I like this place.

It’s more spacious.

 

I’ve lived in a sardine can

for so long,

stuck inside

little compartmentalized

spaces

that I created 

with my ever-active mind,

eager to organize everything

especially

that oh so elusive

rogue 

called

Time.

 

 

Slippery devil.

Wouldn’t stick to the schedule.

Wouldn’t stay in the box.

 

 

When you can’t control something

It can scare you.

 

 

So I started to fear it.

Fear losing my grip on it. 

Not having enough of it.

Always chasing it down,

Trying to get it

To behave.

 

 

 

“Time doesn’t work like that,”

She said it calmly.

“Life doesn’t work like that.

You can’t live like that.”

 

 

I had no idea

how delightful

elbow room

could be.

 

That a good life

doesn’t need to be

a scheduled life,

a perfectly routined life,

a “controlled,”

rigid life.

 

 

A good life 

could be

and is always

a little

unpredictable.

 

I can give

my mental hamster wheel

a rest.

 

 

She continued with a smile,

“Your new phrase will be,

Let it go.”

 

 

A good life,

full of joy and meaning

is empty of

stress.

 

It’s empty of

exhaustion as a status symbol.

Empty of 

hyper-productivity.

 

 

Cause my worth is not based

On my ability to manage time

To the nth degree.

My worth is not based 

On my ability

To get stuff done

early, on time, in time, 

all the time. 

 

 

My worth is based on

who Jesus says I am.

Jesus.

The One who said,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-ladened,

And I will give you rest.”

Time doesn’t need

To be 

put in

time-out.

Crammed in

the sardine can

of my orderly life,

with zero space

to breath.

 

Time

can be

open

and free

and not

a threat.

Not a liability. 

 

 

He holds our times

In His hands.

 

He’s the time-keeper.

I can take

a break

pretending to be

God.

 

 

I can

find some elbow room.

I can stop doing.

I can start being.

I like this place.

Watch me

Stretch.