Taking it with Time

“Here we don’t take meals with time,
you, you are used to taking meals with time.”

Yes, in America, time is truly everything. We schedule our days, our meals our comings and goings by the hands of a clock, growing frustrated and aggravated when an unexpected event forces them to deviate. We get impatient waiting in lines, waiting for food and waiting at all. We expect quality, quantity and quickness. We have created a word for extreme impatience in traffic, road rage.

Living in Africa these past 6 months my patience has been continually cultivated as I have spent the better part of most days waiting, sitting, standing, simply being. Here people are more important than punctuality. Relationships are valued above all else and the need to sit with others overtakes any rush to move along.

This morning after dropping Pastor Emmy off in town, the Driver, also named Emmy, took me over to the post office arriving at five to eight. With a few minutes to spare Emmy began to share his life story and how he came to be a part of the family. Watching people start to walk in and out of the Post I found myself getting antsy to go, but Emmy quite right on talking, seemingly oblivious that is was time to complete the task we had been waiting on. As the minutes passed I realized how my anxiousness was growing and how in the grand scheme of life the mail could wait another 20 minutes while anothers life was shared with me.

In the business of life it can be so easy to put tasks in front of people.
Take time today to be present with those around you, seizing the opportunity to share life with them instead of pushing past them as an interference to your plans. You might just be surprised in the ways your life is blessed.