Have you ever been in a relationship where you were not quite sure whether you wanted to leave or how you wanted to leave? Have you ever had a conflict with someone and not been quite sure what to say or how to mend those fences? Have you ever had a vision of something you want to do, but not known when or how to do it? If you have, then you were in the meantime.
In the meantime is what happens or what you do while something else is happening or until something else happens. It is that season in our lives where we might feel like we are living our lives in limbo. It is that season in our lives where we no longer are where we were emotionally, spiritually, physically, or mentally, but we have not gotten to where we are going. We are in the meantime.
The meantime is the time between the moment we are born and the moment we die. While we are waiting to die, we are living in the meantime. That time between when the seeds are planted and we can pick those fresh strawberries off the vine is the meantime. The time between when we are so mad at someone we can spit nails and the time we are ready to make up is the meantime. That time between when we receive a vision and the vision becomes reality is the meantime. There is a time for every season under heaven, but we spend our entire lives in the meantime.
There is the day we physically come into this world and the day we physically leave this world. The season in between our birth and our death, we spend in the meantime. Life is about living in the meantime. It is about taking full advantage of each moment on earth until we physically leave. Life is about learning how to live and what to do in the meantime.
So what do you do in the meantime. What do you do, where do you turn when you know where you want to be, but you have no clue how to get there? What do you do when you know exactly what you want in life, but what you want is nowhere in sight. What do you do when you are clear on the vision, but waiting on God for the purpose and the plan? What do you in the meantime?
See the problem with the meantime, is that nobody prepares you for the meantime. It’s not that those who loved you and nurtured you didn’t want to, but nobody can prepare you for living in the meantime.
While you are in the meantime, get to know your heavenly family. It takes a long time to grow an old friend, but there is no time like the present to start. Life is infinitely richer when we generate and nurture friendships. It’s easy to develop tunnel vision and surround ourselves only with those who are “relationship material.” Resist the urge. Dates come and go, but friends are God’s arms, holding us up when romantic ventures let us down.
While you are in the meantime, do what you love. Reclaim your passions. Have you always been an artist at heart? When you run, do you “feel God’s pleasure”? See the more we develop our talents, the more we experience enthusiasm and joy, whatever our circumstances. Have you noticed there is something about people who have a passion for life that makes you just want to be around them? Maybe what you are seeing is God’s presence shining through.
While you are in the meantime, step out of your comfort zone and discover life. God has given us a world filled with possibilities, yet all too often we let what might happen, could happen, what somebody might say, or could say keep us from experiencing life. Every day is a new day, filled with possibilities. Every day is filled with music, words, smells, tastes, and sensations that can awaken our senses to what life has to offer. What makes things impossible is you. We are each our greatest enemies. We are the ones who keep ourselves in our comfort zone and we are the ones who can give ourselves permission to experience life.