Time Well Spent--Part 2, What is Gained in Wasted Time

It was right before Christmas when it hit me.

2 1/2 years.

We had been hurting and healing for 2 1/2 years.

I pulled my covers tight and buried my head in my pillow.

2 1/2 wasted years.

How does one make peace with wasted time?

There is so much we could have done with 2 1/2 years, so much I could have taught the children instead of trying to keep them stable, so many things we could have seen, so many places we could have gone...so much we missed...

So much wasted time.

So much wasted life.

And what did we have to show for that time?

So many hard lessons learned. So much hard-won wisdom gained. So many life skills imparted. So much confidence in the ability to overcome. So much understanding of pain...what hurts...and those who hurt...and how to touch the pain gently. So much compassion. So much...

...ability to live well.

In the time we were trying to figure out simply how to survive, we were drowning in the grace of learning to live well.

It wasn't what I thought those years would look like or should look like. It certainly wasn't what I had wanted them to look like, but we came out being the people I want us to be.