It was a
dark and stormy night. Actually it was rather pleasant weather, and it was
early afternoon. The sun was bright and just warm enough to prevent the gentle
breeze from chilling too much. The tall Vanilla Latte was precisely warm enough
to make me feel happy and relaxed without burning my taste buds off. I was
rather content with the temperature of everything around me: clothing, weather,
and coffee.
Where was I?
What was I doing? I was sitting outside a rather attractively built coffee shop
reading homework and waiting to meet with a friend. The coffee meeting had been
planned for three, but due to circumstances beyond her control, our third
friend had to cancel. Originally I was feeling guilty about continuing on with
the meeting without Cassie, but she and I had already agreed to meet another
time. So for the moment, I decided to let go of that guilt and enjoy the
beautiful weather.
Renee soon
arrived and ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte. We sat and chatted. While we were
friends, it almost felt like a "getting to know you" session. We met
a few years ago through a homeschool group that met for Frisbee every week
during the summer. It was a great way to meet new friends, but wasn't always
the best environment for really getting to know someone. We knew each other's
personalities and family members, but little of each other's likes and dislikes
or even past and worldviews.
As we sat
discussing our childhood, teen years, and up to date "outside of frisbee"
life, we learned much. For my part, some questions weren't always easy to
answer. "Where do you work?" for example. "Well, for the next
week and a half I'm employed at ___, but after that..." After a few such
instances of "it's complicated" answers to ordinarily simple
questions, Renee told me, "Your life is complicated." At the time, I
laughed and agreed. But later, I started to ponder the statement.
Was my life
really complicated? It has been, but usually when I'm forgetting to listen to
God. It's like trying to put together a bike or play set without reading the
instructions. Maybe you can figure it out, maybe you'll get it right, but it
takes a lot more time and energy and it isn't a sure thing the outcome will be
correct. Looking at where my life has been over the last 5 or 6 years, I'm
surprised at how so many things just fell into place. Those five years look
like they were perfectly orchestrated and planned (because they were perfectly
orchestrated and planned... just not by me). When I was actually living those 5
years they felt so chaotic.
I feel like
I'm back to the place I was then, searching for a job and wondering what God
has for the future. My life may seem complicated, but when I take a step back
and look at where things were in the past, I see that God was in control the
whole time. He had a plan and all I had to do was obey.
Yes, my circumstances
may seem complicated, but really life becomes simple when I remember to just
trust and obey.
Waiting on Him,
Singinggem
