If I had a superpower, it would be the power to control time. I want the ability to pause, fast forward, and rewind the clock. I want to be Adam Sandler in Click. I want to stop time when I need more sleep and when I need more time to study. I want to rewind time after I make a mistake and say something stupid, and I really wish I could fast forward through boring lectures.
But I can’t control time, it just keeps on going without my consent. Sometimes slow, sometimes fast, the earth never stops spinning and days keep on coming. Yesterday was the first day of the new semester and an hour ago was Valentine’s Day.
I look down at the bottom right of my computer screen and realize, March is almost over. April is approaching. April babies start ordering the balloons and preheating the ovens, birthday cakes need to be iced when cooled.
I think back to the end of winter break when I’m always sad to leave my family and my mom tells me that Spring semester will go by fast. My mom is always right. Although I’m happy that the worst two months of the year, January and February, are in the past, I’m also shocked that it’s almost time to finish up my sophomore year of college. I thought I was only a freshman last week.
It makes me sad that we’ve reached the midpoint of the semester. Despite it being the most difficult and stressful semester I’ve experienced so far, I’m still sad that it’s coming to a close. I don’t want it to be over already and I don’t wish for days to be shorter.
Recently I’ve found myself wanting it to last longer and already missing the things I do. I’m going to miss my job. Every morning at eight o’clock I walk into the office and actually enjoy the monotonous paperwork and extra strong coffee my boss brews. I’ll miss the five o’clock wake up calls and struggling to squeeze an hour at the gym into my days. I don’t enjoy the stress that I’m under but I know soon, it will go away. I know this because Ecclesiastes 3 says:
"For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.”
I include the entire verse because I think it’s important that the Bible directly references these events. In life, these things happen. We are silent, we are loud, we embrace, then turn away, we fight at war, and we rest in peace. Just like there is a time to be an underclassman with a less than ideal schedule, there is also a time to be a senior and enjoy the extra freedom. There is a time to be stressed and to put in the work. And there is most definitely a time to recharge.
This is important because we are supposed to experience every bit of our life in full. We are all allotted bad, stressful, fun, and scary parts in our lives. Time doesn’t tick faster during any one part. Embrace the moment you find yourself in because it won’t last forever.