Just Married

I am learning to find fun in driving over an hour to and from work each day. I enjoy seeing people on their way to work and amazed at all of the things that people accomplish while they are driving. (I actually saw someone completing a word search puzzle while I was stopped at a stop light!)

This morning I was about to exit the interstate when a red SUV caught my eye. Just Married was written on the back window and I enjoyed thinking that someone was enjoying starting their life together. How nice it must be to be on their way to their honeymoon. I wondered if they were going to stay at the beach or where their destination might be. As I exited, I realized that I could see inside of the front of their vehicle. To my surprise two bald men were seated inside, one was black and the other man was white!

We could all try to imagine the story; Are they just carpooling to work in a car someone simply didn't wash? Are they married?? Did someone pull a practical joke? Whatever the story, my first impression was simply blown away when I realized that my first guess was completely wrong. I saw the Just Married written on the car and had already assumed so much. It made me think about the assumptions I make each day. The truth is that we cannot know anything about anything. Only God can know. Appearances are deceiving. Life is too unpredictable. If someone had asked me to guess who was in that car, I would have never guessed two bald men!! I am trying to rest in the fact that figuring out everything beforehand is God's job, not mine.

Psalms 39:6-7

" We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth,
not knowing who will spend it.
And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
My only hope is in you."

Another Meltdown

How many meltdowns am I allowed in a year? I feel that I have already filled my annual requirements in this department. I realize it is hard to get into a routine all at once and not getting proper sleep for the last few days hasn't benefited me either. I am finding myself struggling to get back into the workforce at full-speed. I knew it would be hard coming back to the office, but I didn't expect to be so overwhelmed by numbers and papers. Of course, once again, I thought I could do it all by myself. Will I ever learn? After crying all the way home from work Tuesday, I realized I hadn't asked God for the help that I needed.

Things look different through God's eyes. Where He sees the compassion of the heart, we see the incompetenece of the person. Where He sees opportunity, we see failure. Where He sees promise, we see failure. Where he sees growth, we see failure. What is the pattern here? I know I focus on the thought of failure, while He is seeing an intricate pattern of growth. Mistakes aren't a failure nor do they make me a failure. They are a learning tool to become stronger and grow in technique.

What is the best way to do something right? Make an unintentional mistake. Mistakes are simply reminders to do it right next time. The consequences rememberd of doing it wrong shout loudly when faced with the same situation again. I am thankful that I am a work in progress.

Ecclesiastes 10:4

" If your boss is angry at you, don’t quit!
A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes."

Firsts

Monday was our family's day of firsts. My first day of work, Dakota's first day of daycare, and the boys first day of school. It was the first for us to go to the new building our Church built. It was an exhausting day! We all survived and am sure that we are better for it.

Firsts are very scarry. The aprehension that accompanies a new experience can be crippling to say the least. We are insecure in the not-knowing. Good or bad, we usually would rather be comfortable in what to expect next. Life is uncontrollable. I have had to come to grips with that. If we could script our lives and cast the players that we would like to come in contact with, there would be no adventure and our lives would be quite boring. No one would grow, learn or experience the beautiful gift of surprise! In the end, when the shock of a new experience fades, it is suddenly comforting to go forward in a direction that I wouldn't have planned for myself had I been given the chance. I love that God knows we need a little excitement, a little drama and a little mystery in our lives.


1 Corinthians 2:6-8


"Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord."