My dad used to always say, "Timing is everything." I always thought that was a dumb thing to say especially when I was really excited and wanted to ask permission for something. I remember wanting to have a sleepover with my friend Cami and we had planned everything out to the last iota of all possible details. I ran downstairs where he was watching the news with the TV that sat on a trunk with a random bear rug on top with his socks off and burst into explaining what I wanted to do and I remember he just held up his hand and said, "Chel. Timing is everything. Say that out loud. Go ahead, say it." I thought it was irrelevant to what I was asking but he insisted that I repeat the phrase out loud. I then tried to ask permission again and he held his hand up again and repeated, "Timing is everything." By now I was frustrated. What the heck was he talking about? Anyway, after repeating this irritating cycle thrice and finding my request futile, I went upstairs feeling mad as a teenage hornet. After the news was over he came and said, "Now, this is an example of when your timing could be much better. What is it you want to ask? It's weird to me how some lessons have a delayed activation, not a few minutes later, and sometimes not even a few weeks later. In some cases, it is years later that I finally start to feel and understand things that were said and shown to me years prior. Marriage is the best thing that could ever happen but if its the wrong timing, it is the worst thing that can ever happen. Same thing with children, moving, school, jobs, and anything significantly eternally important. You don't wear swimsuits in the winter, not because swimsuits aren't fun or useful; it's just the wrong time.
You don't plant your garden in November because its the wrong time. Lately, I am thankful for the timing of my life. I'm thankful I have Liv even though I didn't know it was the right time. I'm thankful I didn't get married until I was 27 even though at the time I thought my time had past and felt like I had been eating way too many treats at "take a cookie, take a lookie" ward prayer/stare and was the best miniature golfer around since I went there at least once on a month on blind dates. It was just perfect timing. It's humbling sometimes to realize that your time is not the same as the Lord's and how thankful you are that things don't run according to your mortal cell phone alarm that you set for many of lifes events and stages. I get frustrated sometimes because I think that I should be in a certain stage or its the right time for something that isn't happening. It just doesn't work like that. You can't crock pot a roast in 2 minutes and sometimes the Lord has things in my life crock pot that I just want to nuke in the microwave but lets be honest, roast cooked in the microwave would taste like rotten beef jerky and give you salmonella. There's a reason that our time isn't always the clock we go by. We have a magnet on our fridge by Elder Maxwell that says:
I like that. A lot. Sometimes I think we need to plan on being surprised by the timing of our lives when we really believe that quote. Otherwise our face will look like this when things do happen or do not happen when we think it is the right time (I had just put on a pore cleanser mask and thought I had time to wash it off before Liv woke up):
That's why I taught Liv this principle early on in her childhood by wearing a freakishly green black head eliminator into her room.
No comments:
Post a Comment