What Time Revealed

The clock measures time. The words measure something far greater.

A clock is an interesting gift.

It measures something we can never hold.

Something we spend, waste, cherish, and sometimes wish we could get back.

Time.

A measure of nothing and everything all at once.

Years ago, my mother gave me a clock for my birthday.

At first glance, it wasn't remarkable. It wasn't expensive. It wasn't something that would stop people in their tracks.

But written across the front were words that would stay with me long after the clock itself became part of the background of my life.

"A woman who kneels before God can stand before anyone."

At the time, I don't think either of us knew what those words would come to mean to me.

Sometimes the most life-changing gifts aren't wrapped in perfection.

Sometimes they're wrapped in wisdom.

Over the years, I began to understand the gift.

The older I get, the more I realize that some gifts reveal themselves slowly.

They arrive in a moment but unfold over a lifetime.

This was one of them.

My mother didn't give me a lesson about power.

She didn't give me a lesson about winning.

She gave me a reminder about where true strength comes from.

Not from titles.

Not from accomplishments.

Not from the approval of other people.

But from knowing who you are and whose you are.

Time has a way of testing what we believe.

It tests us through disappointment.

Through uncertainty.

Through seasons that ask more of us than we expected to give.

And somehow, through the passing years, those words remained.

Steady.

Unchanging.

Waiting for me to grow into them.

If there's one thing time has revealed, it's this:

The strongest foundations are often built long before we understand their value.

A sentence.

A lesson.

A prayer.

A gift.

What seems ordinary in one season can become a source of strength in another.

Perhaps that's what wisdom does.

It waits patiently until we're ready to receive it.

The irony isn't lost on me that this was a birthday gift.

Because today is my mother's birthday.

And after all these years, I find myself wanting to return the gift.

Not the clock.

The gratitude.

Mama, thank you for giving me something that time could not take away.

Thank you for the wisdom hidden inside a simple gift.

Thank you for reminding me where courage comes from.

It is something we discover when our foundation is secure.

Most of all, thank you for the gift that kept giving long after the birthday had passed.

And to anyone reading this, may you remember what time has revealed to you.

The lessons.

The truths.

The gifts that stayed.

The wisdom that remained.

And may you find the courage to stand.

Happy Birthday, Mama.

Thank you for the Journey.