Time

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:14

The concept of time does not exist in God's existence. It is something that has been established based on human existence. This limits God's ability and your own understanding because there is a timeframe which often leads to expectations. These expectations do not exist in God, they only exist in you. What is a month to you, is timeless to God. You use time as a placeholder to gather further understanding and to make sense of something. In reality this making sense is timeless since He has already been "here."

He has walked before you and is currently with you in all things. Depression has sometimes been referred to as living in the past. Anxiety has sometimes been referred to as living in the future. Living in the here and now, is the present. Depression and anxiety based on these two examples show again the concept of time and it's impact on mental health. Paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can help you understand depression and anxiety better based on whether or not you are rehashing the past or rehearsing the future. Does this mean that you are not allowed to reminisce? No. Thinking about the past does not always lead to depression. This is why it is important to pay attention to other cues, such as thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. Does this mean that you are not allowed to plan for the future or think about the future? No. This is an important part of preparing and following a plan to help you get to where you are going. The problem is not reminiscing or planning ahead. The problem is living in those times as if they are the here and now. Depression and anxiety are feelings that come and go depending on what is happening around you, what you are thinking, or where you might be. These feelings though, are not facts that explain what is actually happening. They are valid in that you are having these feelings, but they might not be accurate. They often are reminiscing or rehearsing. But if you ask yourself how you are feeling right now, without thinking about the past or the future, often times you are going to say that you are okay. That you are safe. Bringing yourself back to the here and now, and out of the past and future, gives you an opportunity to create distance between yourself and the feelings of depression and anxiety.

He is, was, and will be because He does not live according to time like you do. His ways are not based on hours, days, months, or years. His ways are based on His ways. And something to help keep you grounded in this is that He is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. So no matter what He is. And right now you are. And one way to cope with depression and anxiety is that when you are not thinking in time, when you are not thinking about the past or anticipating the future, when you are just here in this moment He is also just here in this moment with you. And these moments continue to move in space, and they move without time. They just move forward. It does not mean that you can't think about the past or you can't think about the future. It just means that you are here. Right now. In this moment. And this is where He is too. Right here. Right now.

Some grounding ideas:

Say to yourself, "I am right here, right now, and He is right here with me, right now. In this moment, I am here in this space. In this moment He is with me. And as I think about the past or I think about the future I know that that is okay, but it is also okay to come back to where He is with me now. Right here. Right now. In this space. Here He is and here I am. Right here. Right now. In this space."

Identify 5 things you see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you hear, 1 think you smell, 1 thing you taste. Change this up depending on your surroundings or what works best for you. Continue to do this until you have brought yourself back from the past or the future, and you are in the here and now.

Scripture:

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life. Luke 12:25

Questions:

When do you notice time becoming an issue for you?

How does depression and anxiety show up in your life associated with thinking in the past or thinking in the future?

As you read the script provided above, what did you notice? Where were you in time?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, you created the world in seven days. Yet you are timeless. You have given us time to understand measure but it sometimes gets in the way of being here and now in this moment. I pray for space today, and this week, to be present with you. To be present with others. To be present with myself. Lord, you have promised to be with me and you are never changing. Time does not change you and for that I can find grounding when I am lost in my own concept of time. Heavenly Father, I pray for others who are caught up in the past, and caught up in the future. I pray for those who are living in the past and in the future. I pray for those who are struggling to be here in this moment with you. I pray that this moment can bring these people closer to you where you can comfort their depression, comfort their anxieties, and bring them peace. I pray this in your son's name. Amen.