Here I am, all the way from The Netherlands, travelling in Africa. A dream is coming true! And time flies when you’re having fun…
Sometimes time actually seems to stand still when you enjoy life in a unique way, though. Do you know that feeling? I definitely do, especially now when I’m travelling. I can write one journal after another filled with all my experiences. About beautiful scenes, differences in culture and above all about the people that surprise me! But usually, time seems to pass by more quickly every year. The daily rhythm of life (as far as a student has one!) seems to swallow all my time. And suddenly I’m 24. Almost a quarter century!
A Dutch author has a really good explanation about why time goes by so quickly during ‘normal life’. He says that when you are a child everything is a thrill, because you experience it all for the first time. Once you get older you live repetitively, because lots of similar activities like work and study happen almost every day. But when you travel and have new experiences it seems like you’re back in your childhood. “Suddenly time slows down, not because it slows down, but because you live more intensely. You are back in the paradise of wonder.” (Godfried Bomans)
As I get close to the end of my study I feel the pressure of achievement: I need to get great marks for my exams, I have to get my degree within the prescribed four years and then I have to get a job despite the rate of unemployment being so high. I have to achieve! But why do I think this way? Because society expects me to, I guess.
Is this the life God planned for me: living under pressure, always looking for more and better? Perhaps not. Jesus says in the midst of this pressure:
Trusting God no matter what and being real and honest… that sounds too good to be true. But you know what? I’m trying it! And I’m finding that living like that really is possible! And that it gives me lots of energy! Even though I don’t pass all my exams first time around and even though sometimes I get hurt by people I think I can trust, I still see the amazing blessings in my life. Because God has given me the eyes of a child again – The eyes of wonder!