"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Our days must be shortened, it is a sign of the last days, and I'm thankful for it, but it also really messes with my head. Some days I wake up and feel like the previous day was just a dream. Now when work can be a bit monotonous at times its nice to have things go by faster. The flip side though is that a day can go by and if you aren't actively engaged in progressing it is really easy to feel like you have improved or become anything for quite sometime.
Another aspect of time going by so quickly is that things can feel chaotic. As life feels more and more of a whirlwind it can be hard to remember to take time to find quiet and fortify ourselves for the coming day. This last week went by so fast, it was full of good things, yet it was also full of all sorts of attacks. I'd just think that I had overcome some sense of disappointment or sadness and then some new thing would come up. It can be a painful thing when we feel separate from those around us and Satan loves to play that up. He wants to increase grudges, increase otherness, and keep us from thinking carefully and clearly. Then once we recognize those things for what they are and say no (I'm not saying the emotion will magically disappear, but it is easier to recognize what's going on and overcome it when we recognize attacks and distractions for what they really are), something new comes up. The adversary says "I see your capableness and I raise you shame and guilt" and those are much more difficult to overcome. The thing about mistakes of the past is that they always seem to come back to haunt you, we all want to be right with the Lord and Satan is very good and making that distance seem ginormous, at the same time that is Savior is telling us that all is forgiven and that all we need to do is move forward, to keep trying and let Him heal us. But somehow the adversary always seems to weasel his way in and there's this niggling voice bringing up all the doubts, all the fears, all the worries...all the every things. The things about peace is that it can be life changing, it clears away all the doubt, the fear, the worry, the negativity...but it is our choice to let it stay. There comes a time when we have to make a choice which voice we choose to entertain. Do we choose the adversary, with his cutting words and painful feelings attached or do we say no to our doubts and fears and trust our God that He has forgiven us. It is an interesting paradox that it is our Savior that has done the work to be able to extend mercy to us, yet we still argue with Him that we can be forgiven. He that knows our motivations better than we do, who understands our circumstances, pains and afflictions, He can and does offer that forgiveness, but we must choose to receive. Until we accept it ( and even after accepting it we have to be willing to live in and embrace what we accepted) we are open to the adversarial winds.
Our Savior is our protector. He walked into a garden so that we can come to Him, enter into His garden and find His peace when the winds of the world feel fierce and we find ourselves feeling much lower than we should. He raises us up, He is our defender and protector from the adversary and through Him all things are made all right again.
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