Following

{As I prepare for another school year, I'm revving up with some encouragement.  I found this post in a folder, unpublished, from last year.  I hope you enjoy it! }

Some days, when I look at this life of mine, I wonder at how it all came to be.

It is so far from what I pictured for myself at an early age, so different from what I thought I wanted.  Now, I see His hand in it all so clearly - guiding these steps of mine, crafting it all in how I now see it was all meant to be.

I had no intention of being a 27 year old mother to 5, gulping down coffee each morning, drilling multiplication problems and coaxing littles to potty train.  My plans certainly did not include 8 years of breastfeeding and carrying a baby on my back wherever I went.

I loved my Mama who did all of this, respected who she was and what she did, but it was not what I wanted - at least, not until I was much older.

My dreams were for my name in lights, stage makeup twice a day, big Musical numbers and dancing and singing my heart out.  My passion was performance, not balancing four plates of eggs while making my way to the breakfast table, trying not to stumble over the little person clinging to my legs.

And its funny to me how I ended up so far from where I wanted to be, yet so close to where I started, and now, so fully centered in this place, this life.

My singing is only now in lullabies and my dancing only impresses my 6 year old, but I am able to see that this is a valid performance.   Singing while swaying in front of a sink full of dishes, no one sees...hears. Or do they?

The One who truly matters, the One who this life is all about - He sees, He hears...and He applauds.

To an outside view, this life looks so very small.  Changing diapers, grocery shopping, early morning soccer games are all very insignificant compared to a standing ovation at the Kennedy Center - or are they?


I have been given  my dreams with a heaping dose of blessings besides.  Things I never before knew, and, if I was the sole orchestrator of my life, I may have missed out on.

When I see where He has brought me, I cannot help but be reminded that He continues to direct our paths, if we let Him.  And after the goodness He has given to me, I'd be a fool not to follow.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6