A few months ago, I had been pulled away from a hectic lifestyle to spend a few months at home.
My circumstances led me here, and I know the timing was impeccable, but I have sat so keenly on exactly why this event came to be.
As this Season of life played out, the question answered itself 100 times over.
As this Season of life played out, the question answered itself 100 times over.
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.
Most of the time, for reasons we can not explain.
But, this is just when faith comes and and overrules our ability to perceive reason and time, and just, trust.
I refer to this, as "Papa God's perfect timing".
In the past few Seasons of my life, Papa God has blessed me with much growth, opportunities, and a tiny bit of wisdom just barely beyond my years.
True praises!
One of the main themes: childlike faith.
To quickly ponder this theme, seems, oh too simple.
But, really think about it..
To look and trust and understand as a child looking up at their Father.
Simplistically. With delight. With wonder. With splendor.
What a way to celebrate God!
Most of the time, for reasons we can not explain.
But, this is just when faith comes and and overrules our ability to perceive reason and time, and just, trust.
I refer to this, as "Papa God's perfect timing".
In the past few Seasons of my life, Papa God has blessed me with much growth, opportunities, and a tiny bit of wisdom just barely beyond my years.
True praises!
One of the main themes: childlike faith.
To quickly ponder this theme, seems, oh too simple.
But, really think about it..
To look and trust and understand as a child looking up at their Father.
Simplistically. With delight. With wonder. With splendor.
What a way to celebrate God!
We are never, exactly, called to do this, but I am thankful my heart has been melted in such a way to have had the opportunity to do so!
To get down to the ground in scrubs and look at a fallen leaf.
To appreciate the feeling of my fingers glissading their way through water.
To get down to the ground in scrubs and look at a fallen leaf.
To appreciate the feeling of my fingers glissading their way through water.
To stare up at the sky at any given point of the day and awe how everything had to be JUST right for us to be able to appreciate that. (..That's God showing off, and flirting. ...Because He can. ;)
To study the human body as such a delicate and intricate creation. Complex, yet creative. Overwhelming, yet under appreciated.
To walk blindly into Adulthood, aware that my Papa is holding my hand and my heart and leading me in the right direction. The right size steps at the right times. Often times picking me up when I need to be, and sometimes, allowing me to walk right beside Him when He has provided me the strength to do so. Baby steps.
The last year of my life, I have mimicked a child: thankful for every moment of it.
A humbling experience and perspective, indeed!
To study the human body as such a delicate and intricate creation. Complex, yet creative. Overwhelming, yet under appreciated.
To walk blindly into Adulthood, aware that my Papa is holding my hand and my heart and leading me in the right direction. The right size steps at the right times. Often times picking me up when I need to be, and sometimes, allowing me to walk right beside Him when He has provided me the strength to do so. Baby steps.
The last year of my life, I have mimicked a child: thankful for every moment of it.
A humbling experience and perspective, indeed!
If you ever take the time to stop while you are young and listen to your elders, they will repeatedly give you the same advice: appreciate your youth; don't be in such a rush to grow up; don't live life with regrets.
I remember a conversation from my childhood with my "Greatma" (Great Grandmother). She gave me that exact advice.
I have since attempted to apply her wisdom to my life.
I don't crave to be 97 as she, and crying tears of regret. Sad that life was too short. Not being able to have ever made the time to laugh with an old friend, travel to the other side of the world, literally stop to smell the roses, or soak in a breathtakingly beautiful sky.
I remember a conversation from my childhood with my "Greatma" (Great Grandmother). She gave me that exact advice.
I have since attempted to apply her wisdom to my life.
I don't crave to be 97 as she, and crying tears of regret. Sad that life was too short. Not being able to have ever made the time to laugh with an old friend, travel to the other side of the world, literally stop to smell the roses, or soak in a breathtakingly beautiful sky.
Currently, as mentioned above, I am home.
I am sharing living quarters with a two year old.
He is learning: to run, talk, read, identify objects, laugh at funny things, understanding right from wrong, how pronounce my name, that "Everybody Poops" and applying it to his potty, and embracing the full potential of his "terrible two's"..
I am sharing living quarters with a two year old.
He is learning: to run, talk, read, identify objects, laugh at funny things, understanding right from wrong, how pronounce my name, that "Everybody Poops" and applying it to his potty, and embracing the full potential of his "terrible two's"..
It is truly incredible how much we don't thank those who raised us.
(THANK YOU, Mommera & Dadrow.
More thanks than you can even begin to understand, to you both.)
Sometimes, we focus more on selfishly holding the fork ourselves than we do enjoying, appreciating, and needing the airplane noises it exhaustively takes for our parents to get us to eat..
Our parents, literally, taught us everything.
How to eat, sleep, use the bathroom, talk, listen, walk, learn, read, interpret, understand, sing, love, live.
But, most times we forget that, because we remember that they disciplined us.
It's fascinating how much bad we remember over the good.
It's also fascinating that in order to succeed, be a well-rounded citizen, or understand respect, there had to be rules. We had to hear "no". We had to have our tooshies spanked. We had to be told that sometimes, we are wrong.
Isn't this just, an incredibly beautiful reflection of our faith?
Just like our parents, doesn't Papa God set boundaries for us to follow to discipline us, yet have freedom?!
Our parents don't tell us that the "stove is hot" or that they want us "home by eleven o'clock" to punish us or "ruin our lives"- they do it out of love.
They would rather us not burn ourselves. For they will be the ones running to get the First-Aid kit to fix our wounds when WE didn't listen. Angry, afraid, yet lovingly, they nurse us back to health.
They would rather us not be out driving on a dark night, with the ability of hitting a roaming animal, or getting hit by a drunk driver. For they with be ones sitting and weeping in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for any update the Doctors might have on their precious child's life.
Most times, rules aren't meant to tightly restrict us, like a dog on a short chain.
They are lovingly put there to safely allow us enough freedom to joyfully live without getting hurt, like a dog fenced inside of 1,000 acres of property that sits adjacent to a busy highway.
It's fascinating how much bad we remember over the good.
It's also fascinating that in order to succeed, be a well-rounded citizen, or understand respect, there had to be rules. We had to hear "no". We had to have our tooshies spanked. We had to be told that sometimes, we are wrong.
Isn't this just, an incredibly beautiful reflection of our faith?
Just like our parents, doesn't Papa God set boundaries for us to follow to discipline us, yet have freedom?!
Our parents don't tell us that the "stove is hot" or that they want us "home by eleven o'clock" to punish us or "ruin our lives"- they do it out of love.
They would rather us not burn ourselves. For they will be the ones running to get the First-Aid kit to fix our wounds when WE didn't listen. Angry, afraid, yet lovingly, they nurse us back to health.
They would rather us not be out driving on a dark night, with the ability of hitting a roaming animal, or getting hit by a drunk driver. For they with be ones sitting and weeping in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for any update the Doctors might have on their precious child's life.
Most times, rules aren't meant to tightly restrict us, like a dog on a short chain.
They are lovingly put there to safely allow us enough freedom to joyfully live without getting hurt, like a dog fenced inside of 1,000 acres of property that sits adjacent to a busy highway.
The toddler staying with us is a beautiful baby boy. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a beautiful smile, and a huge laugh.
(My favorite thing about him: when I leave the dining room and walk into the kitchen to grab something to complete the meal. Before I fully enter back into the room, I pop only my head back in just sharply enough to grasp his attention. A ginormous open smile quickly slaps across his face as the loud gust of "AIIINNN-SEEEEEEE!!!!!" squeezes out of his vocal cords. ..I will miss that the most.)
(My favorite thing about him: when I leave the dining room and walk into the kitchen to grab something to complete the meal. Before I fully enter back into the room, I pop only my head back in just sharply enough to grasp his attention. A ginormous open smile quickly slaps across his face as the loud gust of "AIIINNN-SEEEEEEE!!!!!" squeezes out of his vocal cords. ..I will miss that the most.)
With the toddler in the house, I hear the word, "NO" almost 300 times a day.
He's actually picked it up as a popular word in his vocabulary because of how many times he hears it! Hahah.
But truly, I love the little sprat.
He has served as a beautiful example of the explained above.
He's actually picked it up as a popular word in his vocabulary because of how many times he hears it! Hahah.
But truly, I love the little sprat.
He has served as a beautiful example of the explained above.
And it has only, in the past couple of months, painfully sank in just how much I am just like a toddler.
As humans, we LOVE to plan, be busy, and have control over our lives.
...How many times do we have to hear, "no"?
As many as it takes?
...How many times do we have to hear, "no"?
As many as it takes?
Sometimes, the things in life we think we want, aren't quite the things that are meant to be.
Perhaps we aren't aspiring for the things we are truly made to do and we go away to college, and life tears us away from it.
Perhaps we are trying too hard to schedule and control every detail of our lives and become frustrated when everything isn't perfect and we find that we throw more pity parties than we do smile.
Perhaps we aren't aspiring for the things we are truly made to do and we go away to college, and life tears us away from it.
Perhaps we are trying too hard to schedule and control every detail of our lives and become frustrated when everything isn't perfect and we find that we throw more pity parties than we do smile.
God doesn't always speak through a roar or through a huge, obvious, blinking sign.
Sometimes, He whispers.
Sometimes, He whispers.
We mess up, God gets the band-aid.
We choose to disobey and fall away from Him and freely wreck our own lives, and He sits in the waiting room while we heal, weeping for us.
He loves us so much when we're broken.
We are so attune to His presence when we are in need.
He jealously loves that about His children.
All of us.
There is much controversy about religion.
Most of it (within Christianity) is silly little tiffs about "rules".
Examine closer and you will come to find that most of these debated "rules" have been man-made.
We choose to disobey and fall away from Him and freely wreck our own lives, and He sits in the waiting room while we heal, weeping for us.
He loves us so much when we're broken.
We are so attune to His presence when we are in need.
He jealously loves that about His children.
All of us.
There is much controversy about religion.
Most of it (within Christianity) is silly little tiffs about "rules".
Examine closer and you will come to find that most of these debated "rules" have been man-made.
Christ attempted to correct this when He walked the earth.
Jesus debated with the Pharisees and Sadducees about all of their rules.
They made people sick. Exhausted. Frustrated. Fearful. Ill at ease.
God does JUST the opposite.
He heals. Refreshes. Calms. Strengthens. Stills.
He commands us to follow simple truths that, if followed, we will not end up hurt- or hurting others.
God commands us to love.
He calls us to obedience.
He begs us to respect.
He instills wisdom.
He instructs against folly and falling into traps.
Scripture breathes applicable life into our hearts and teaches us simple truth.
Jesus debated with the Pharisees and Sadducees about all of their rules.
They made people sick. Exhausted. Frustrated. Fearful. Ill at ease.
God does JUST the opposite.
He heals. Refreshes. Calms. Strengthens. Stills.
He commands us to follow simple truths that, if followed, we will not end up hurt- or hurting others.
God commands us to love.
He calls us to obedience.
He begs us to respect.
He instills wisdom.
He instructs against folly and falling into traps.
Scripture breathes applicable life into our hearts and teaches us simple truth.
As a toddler learns that Mommy and Daddy tells them what is right or wrong, we are continuously called to obey.
As a toddler learns to share, we are told to honor our neighbors.
As a toddler learns that the afternoon is reserved for nap time, we are told to obey a Sabbath Day, and rest. Becoming refreshed in the Lord.
As a toddler learns that we tell the truth and only play with what's ours, we are warned against stealing and coveting.
Proverbs overflows with applicable life warnings, that also yield with conviction.
(Often times when reading them, I writhe in pain of the "ouch"es my heart bears of foolishness..)
As a toddler learns to share, we are told to honor our neighbors.
As a toddler learns that the afternoon is reserved for nap time, we are told to obey a Sabbath Day, and rest. Becoming refreshed in the Lord.
As a toddler learns that we tell the truth and only play with what's ours, we are warned against stealing and coveting.
Proverbs overflows with applicable life warnings, that also yield with conviction.
(Often times when reading them, I writhe in pain of the "ouch"es my heart bears of foolishness..)
Tomorrow, I move.
Tomorrow, I accept adulthood.
Tomorrow, I transition from crawling, to fumbling and bumbling on my feet- until I grow to eat the solids of responsibility and of paying bills, and then a career- learning to truly run.
But, I pray that I may only run straight into the arms of my Papa.
What a wonderful God that provides us light and discernment in a dark, dismal, confusing world..
I am thankful that we will always be His children- no matter how much we feel we have got this Adulthood thing down-pat.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to run to for a hug and a kiss on a hard day.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to pick up my broken pieces and make something even more beautiful.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to love me when the world has decided otherwise.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to listen when no one else will.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to whisper "no" when I am setting up for ruin.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to glorify through all of my little "duh" moments, and in every season of life. ..Always growing. Always learning. Always faithfully trusting.
Perhaps, we never really grow up...
Tomorrow, I accept adulthood.
Tomorrow, I transition from crawling, to fumbling and bumbling on my feet- until I grow to eat the solids of responsibility and of paying bills, and then a career- learning to truly run.
But, I pray that I may only run straight into the arms of my Papa.
What a wonderful God that provides us light and discernment in a dark, dismal, confusing world..
I am thankful that we will always be His children- no matter how much we feel we have got this Adulthood thing down-pat.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to run to for a hug and a kiss on a hard day.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to pick up my broken pieces and make something even more beautiful.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to love me when the world has decided otherwise.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to listen when no one else will.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to whisper "no" when I am setting up for ruin.
I am thankful that I will always have a Papa God to glorify through all of my little "duh" moments, and in every season of life. ..Always growing. Always learning. Always faithfully trusting.
Perhaps, we never really grow up...
