One step forward, two steps back.
That’s the way it seems to go sometimes, doesn’t it? I’ve just recently been there, and it is so frustrating. The encouraging buildup to change becomes short lived. Progress is fleeting, and patience is in short supply.
So, what do we do when our slow movement forward quickly slides backwards?
Remember the positive change we did see. Change takes time. Whether we’re waiting for emotional healing, improvement in a health condition, a job offer, changed attitudes, an ease in difficult finances, or whatever it might be, it often usually takes more time than we would like.
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I am a wife. A mom. A home educator.
I like to sew and ‘pretend’ to be crafty. I’ve painted furniture, made wreaths…I have two pallets in the garage waiting to be repurposed.
I sing. Not just in my car…I can sing. I’m not awesome…I have a good church voice.
I like to write on this little corner of the internet all my crazy, beautiful thoughts and life happenings.
I share my heart with women in my small group.
I love to read. I take bubble baths.
All these things encompass who I am.
But the first three…being wife, mom and home educator: those are my callings right now.
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September has always been, to me, the season of new beginnings, even more than Spring. Maybe it is because the end of Summer brings with it the crisp freshness of cooler air. Or perhaps all of the hopes for the first days of school are forever etched upon my memory. September is a season of fresh starts, second chances and renewed vision. New school supplies, the end of loose schedules and the return of routine can be simultaneously sad and exciting.
Maybe you are sending your oldest to college, or your youngest off on their first day of preschool, maybe a grown child off to military, or your only kiddo to their first day in a new school; Maybe you’re Homeschooling for the first year or sending your children off to Public or Christian schools, maybe it’s your first season with an empty nest.
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Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from Him.
Psalms 127:3 (NLT)
My Bestie, whom I refer to as “my Gayle” (because every one of us harbors a secret Oprah fantasy, right?), and I were talking about the frustrations of motherhood one morning. It’s something we talk about most mornings, in one fashion or another. It is a popular theme among my friends. We are high achievers. We like to do things well. We have (or had) spectacular mothers, and struggle with doing and being to our own children what they are to us; despite our world being vastly different than theirs…but we try.
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I’m currently struggling through a season of uncertainty. It’s not just one thing, but several things that are threatening to move me out of a place of security and into a place of full dependance on God to bring me through. I believe that He will. I know that He promises to never leave me nor forsake me. His plans are to prosper me and not to harm me.
But every now and then I fall out of trust. I doubt His plan while worrying about where the next dollar will come from. I fret over change and the unknown. It’s uncomfortable.
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My dad loves hiking and taking extended walks. I have an early childhood memory of taking a long hike with him while our family camped one year. I can hear him singing with us kids as we turned another corner on the winding path.
“What’s around the corner?…Just another corner!”
We laughed as we came around each bend and sang the little song again and again. As I think about that scenario now, I wonder if we were actually lost and my Dad was just being very successful at distracting us!
In May of this year, just three short months ago, I had no idea what was around the corner for my family and me.
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I’ll admit to being fluffier than I used to be. Things like having babies, stress eating, and an honest love of chocolate haven’t helped my waistline. Over the last few months I’ve started noticing more articles from experts urging us to eat better, not less. In other words, the secret to health is not consuming less food but consuming better food. And they have a point. For most of us, moving away from the standard American diet of quick-fixes, drive-through meals, and prepackaged foods, for lean meats, produce, and whole grains results in a healthier diet and a trimmer body.
Does that same principle apply to us spiritually?
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There are days when it feels like my efforts go completely unnoticed.
It doesn’t matter where we’ve gone, what I’ve tried, or how many errands were run. Someone’s mood is less than desirable. The one thing not accomplished or that was missed on the shopping list is the one thing being talked about. And it seems to get bigger…overtaking everything else.
We tend to focus on the negative, don’t we?
The one thing that didn’t work out instead of all the things that did.
The item we would like to have, ignoring all that we do have.
The unfinished work versus the completed tasks.
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