What we have been handed...

(I am going to preface this post with letting you all know that I am not saying that I am happy that so many of us are stuck at home. I am just helping us to have a different perspective...)

Right now most of us are overloaded with something that we usually, constantly mention that we don't have...TIME.

For decades now what has been at the top of our excuse list?? I don't have time for that. I'd love to call, but I just don't have time today. It is my dream to be able to do that, but I don't think I will ever have the time.

Well, guess what guys?? We have time now!

Now what??

The issue so many of us are having now...what do I do with this time?? When your life has been going non-stop for years and then all of a sudden everything comes to a halt your system freezes. This is so out of the norm that part of you literally doesn't know what to do. You have had the same schedule for months, years, maybe decades and now you are looking at a blank calendar.

First off, don't let this overwhelm you. Take a deep breath and just sit for a minute. Then, get excited.

For real...get excited! Why?? Because that to-do list you have been adding to for months now? You can tackle it! Those books you have been so wanting to read? Go read them! That devotional you have been wanting to write? Those closets you have been meaning to organize? That spare bedroom that you have so wanted to transform into an office? That basement that is begging for some tlc? You can do all these things now!

For years so many of us have been complaining that we never have enough time. We are never able to get our lists marked off. We are never able to do the things that we really want to do...only the things that we have to do. This time that so many of us have been given now should wake everything in our systems up.

Read that last sentence again.

Instead of sitting on our backsides for weeks waiting for life to get back to "normal" we should be taking advantage of every single minute that we have.

Now, I also am fully aware of the stress and uncertainty that is running through so many of us right now...BUT, we should seriously be thankful for this time we have been handed. So many of us didn't realize how desperately we needed everything to pause. Like I mentioned earlier, we have put so many things off because of our lack of time and have only been able to focus on the things that "had to" be done instead of things that we felt "needed to" be done. The only way we were going to realize how much our schedule needed a change or how much our mindset needed shifted was if everything in our world came to a screeching halt.

So...not only should we be blowing the dust off of our to-do lists and totally marking every line off, but we should also be reconnecting with our family. We should be re-evaluating why we do what we do every day. Do we love what we do? Are we happy with where we are as a family? Are we making  a difference in other people's lives?

In the midst of all of this uncertainty, I truly believe that God has given so many of us a second chance. Time to be still...to think...to pray...to make new plans...to find our purpose. And...when life does get back to "normal" things should be different. How we view our every day should look and feel different. Our priorities should look different a few weeks from now than they did a few weeks ago.

If we used our time wisely and truly did the things that I listed above we should be more confident with where we are and what we are doing. We should have a better plan for each day and a better mindset. We should seriously have a new zeal for life!

AND...we should never use the excuse "I just don't have time" ever again.