There are numerous times, emotions, and seasons we might experience in our lives, but the gaps between them represent 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. Life is about learning how to live and what to do in the meantime.
And the time we spend in the meantime is filled with other meantime experiences. We have all had those in the meantime experiences. It is that time when you are at your family reunion and you know that somewhere between the food and the family stories and traditions, there is that question about whether or not you are still in the life, or when you are going to get married, or whatever question it is that you dread coming. You know its going to come, you may not be sure when, but in the meantime you enjoy yourself as much as possible, until the question comes. It is about what you 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? 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. God is the only one who can help guide you while living in the meantime.
So develop your relationship with your Creator. Get to know the God who loves you just as you are. Get to know God who tries to tell you every day that God’s standards of worthiness are not the same as the human standards that others have put on you. While you are in the meantime, get to know God whose love for you is unconditional.
While you are in the meantime, get to know those you are journeying with. 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? 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 we see is their enthusiasm, their being with Spirit.
While you are in the meantime, step out of your comfort zone and discover 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.
While you are in the meantime, help somebody. A poet once wrote, “I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother, and I found all three.” Sometimes when we are feeling empty, we benefit immeasurably by serving people in need. As their strength is renewed, our cups overflow. Stop waiting for an invitation to get involved. Go help somebody.
While you are in the meantime, free yourself and live in the present. I had a friend once who put all her hopes in the future. She had put together a hope chest together of brand new household items, while all the time she ate with plastic silverware and off paper plates. She was waiting to use her blessings until she met the woman of her dreams. Living in the present is not about abandoning your dreams, it is simply a reminder to live in the present with God.
While you are in the meantime, take the time to clean your house. When we take the time to do some spiritual housecleaning, we can find ourselves developing a fresh vision of God’s plan for our lives. We just have to work on cleaning the windows of our hearts and minds that have been streaked with past pain and hurts, past memories and disappointments. We have to sweep away the clouds of fear, self doubt and lies that try to keep God’s love from shining through. We have to sweep our minds free of the stuff that trips us up, keeps us confused and makes the meantime miserable.
While you are in the meantime, dream. Take the time to remind yourself of the experience that you want to have. Remind yourself of the feelings you want to have. Don’t make decisions for God about what is possible. Just let yourself dream. Let your mind envision the best situation it can imagine. So let yourself dream. And dream in 3D. Allow yourself to not only see it, but know what it feels like to be in that space. If you can’t dream about how you are going to feel when you come through, you might arrive, but not know that you are there.
While you are in the meantime, come to understand, we are all in the meantime together. Because of our bodies, we cannot see the interaction of the soul. We are not aware of the commonality in Spirit. Our experiences have been varied and different. Life has unfolded in different ways for each of us because of our experiences, however, it is unfolding for each of us in the meantime.