Some things just take time

I was looking back over previous posts today, and noticed the one about Drug Court. It turns out that there was this one little thing that had to be taken care of before my wife's sister could get into the program, so she made the necessary court appearance to handle an unpaid fine.

It turns out that the unpaid fine had a suspended sentence attached to it, and the judge decided to un-suspend a couple of months. The net result is that she'll be able to get back to what she was working on here in a couple weeks or so.

Lots of other things take time, too. For her and her husband, there's looking for jobs, paying rent, attending court, going to rehab, paying fines, getting bus passes, saving for a vehicle, and a whole raft of other things that all seem to be on the top of their list at the same time.

For us, we have work, school, grocery shopping, getting eyeglasses for several kids, marching band, a teenager with a summer job and no car, church, family members needing the van to move, planning and building a detached garage, vinyl fencing, yard care, and yet another raft of things to do.

The problem is that we often look at those things as in the way of what we want to do, instead of being what makes us who we are. It gets back to the whole idea of trying to enjoy (or at least learn from) the journey, rather than looking past it to the destination. The path is much harder if you can't glean any good from it along the way.

So if you're feeling overwhelmed with that day-to-day list, find one thing on that list that you can savor and enjoy. Even if it's just a few minutes of contemplation, meditation, or planning before sleep, or being grateful you can do the dishes instead of needing to unplug a toilet, take the time to feel positive about what you do.

Over time, you can progress to having a better attitude about one thing at a time by learning to enjoy the things you need to do each day, and by correcting and eliminating the problems. It can work wonders if you use your time rather than being abused by it.