The Gift of Time

By Kristi Cruise

For the past month, I’ve been in a season of nonstop motion. The kind where the days blur and the work keeps pouring out of me in waves—sometimes gentle, sometimes tidal, but always forward. Just when I think this project has reached its highest point, another idea lands, another refinement flows, and suddenly it’s even stronger. It’s humbling, exhilarating, and honestly feels like some of the best work of my life is being born right here, right now. Honestly, it all feels like a dream, like a dejavu, a dream I think I've had before. 

I had braced myself for the big meeting to come quickly as was originally. Every ounce of me was prepared to hand it over, ready or not. But life handed me something else today: because of travel schedules, it’s been pushed back two whole weeks! Yea! Two whole weeks for me to breathe and take care of the million and one things I haven't even touched in the last 4 weeks due to this unexpected awesomeness. 

I feel… relief. A glorious, expansive exhale. Time—one of the 5T’s we talk so much about—isn’t just a slot on the calendar. It’s a treasure. It’s permission to pause, to polish, to let the work deepen even further. It’s a chance to clean my room (a luxury in my world!), catch up on the little things that have been left behind, and return to the project not from a place of fatigue, but from a place of strength and renewal. 

Clock and Key image

I keep marveling at how this process mirrors the mission itself. Just when you think the story is set, life flips you into a new perspective. Just when you think the work is “done,” it unfolds again, richer and wiser. This pause feels like proof that the timing is not only right—it’s divine. And in the meantime, the project will continue to marinate, as all seasoned things should, just like a chicken or some mushrooms or something like that, I should probably even cook tonight with my newfound treasure of time. I am really proud of myself and the work that has gone into the project, and I can't wait to share it with the client...in two weeks! In the meantime, I'll be here, catching up. Breathing. Cleaning. Yea.  

Sometimes the best gift isn’t the opportunity itself, but the time you’re given to marinate in it.

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