When it comes to patience, I can admit that I am the worst.

I understand the value of the virtue, but I do not practice it far enough. I am constantly planning out my life, scheduling my time and checking off boxes, yet I’m constantly convinced that 24 hours just isn’t enough time in a day, and ever so eager to check off that next box.

That’s where the problem lies- my whole life is living one step ahead, and even then, looking two or three steps ahead of where I am. Always living in the future, while letting the present completely pass me by. I’ll look back on moments and instances and wish I could relive them time and time again, yet, I didn’t appreciate them when they were actually here. It’s like the quote goes “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone,” which is applicable to both people and especially to moments.

Maybe you’re in a season of change, trying time, or moment you just feel so stuck in. That’s okay. Do not rush it. “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under Heaven” (Ecc. 3:1).

Each and every moment you live through is a moment that matters and that needs to be embraced with open arms. If you know me, you know that the past few months have been a time of such immense change, where I kept begging God to just let it be over, and to let me be past it. Now, I look back and see the few happiest months of my life.

In some of the hardest and trying times I’ve ever experienced, came a joy in my heart that I didn’t even know was humanly possible.

If you keep rushing through life, trying to check off the next box, you will never be happy in the moment, but instead filled with a strange nostalgia for all of the parts you’ve already lived through knowing you’ll never be able to return to them. Enjoy each moment as it comes. Whether you’re laughing or crying, angry or overjoyed, partying or stu[dying]. Each moment you survive serves a purpose, both on earth and for our ever-loving Lord.

I know it’s hard.

Even the thought of ceasing my to-do’s and planning ahead gives me a dreadful feeling of anxiety that seems unshakeable. But that’s the thing- It’s not. With Him and through Him, you can live each moment as it comes, embracing the waves of change with open arms. I struggle every day but I am striving to be better at living in the present with intent.

All it comes down to is this- our lives are already planned out. You cannot change a single thing about the past, present, or future. What is to come is already written in the stars and all you can do is take a breath and open your arms for the moments that are passing you by right now. Put the planner away, get off the Pinterest boards, and open your heart to the season and moment you’re in right now. Maybe you’ll find the same joy I did; the beauty through the ashes.