Addison, Libby and Parker ... in a former Season of life!

This morning I have time ... I'm making time to write.  Because words find their way into my head, lodge in my heart, and rattle around my brain most days ... I construct written pieces of material in the imaginary world that is my brain all the time.  However, it's only when I sit down at the computer do they find their way out in black and white.

Here are things that have taken place in real life since the last time I wrote:  a good friend had a baby, two friends are suffering from unknown illnesses, a 7th grade slumber party, coffee with friends, a birthday celebration, a prayer time with students, valentines day breakfast with my girls, laundry, death of an old friend, snow, and scatter a few lunches being packed and made, worries being smoothed by motherly wisdom, kisses and hugs, and the occational arguement over things that really don't matter ... that about sums it up.

As is my usual custom, I started my morning with really strong coffee and some time to sit and be quiet.  I read the following.  The words jumped right off the page and created an "Ah Ha" moment for me.

"Thank me for the conditions that are requiring you to be still.  Do not spoil these quiet hours by wishing them away, waiting impatiently to be active again.  Some of the greatest works in My kingdom have been done from sick beds and prison cells.  Instead of resenting the limitations of a weakened body, search for My way in the midst of these very circumstances.  Limitations can be liberating when your strongest desire is living close to Me." (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, pg. 49)

As I have struggled these last moths with serotonin that lives well below the average, I've fought it.  I've not been thankful.  I've wished it away.  I've waited ... impatiently ... to be active again.  But, I'm on a learning curve.  Somewhere in the middle of this health stuff I got it.  I got that I am not the ruler of my world.  Shock.  I learned that when I fight what is not in hopes that the fighting will produce what I want ... I get so frustrated I could explode.  I've learned to cope.  I'm learning that success doesn't mean what I do.

So here's the kicker ... my serotonin is on the rise!  I don't have medical proof as I don't get blood drawn until March, however, I know.  I know because I can do more!  That's ironic, isn't it?

I love the part about getting older when you realize you've learned a great life lesson and you actually apply it.  That's what I'm learning now.  With new energy, I'm not jumping right back into the saddle.  I have to be a little more strategic in planning my days.  If I know something "big" is taking place I have to plan to rest.  Overall, "normal" is within reaching distance.  But, I don't want old habbits to erase the lessons learned.  Lessons like realizing that life is really more about the journey.  I'm seeing seasons emerge in my life as I watch the lives of those around me.

My friend who had the baby ... oh the memories that brings back!  The joy of seeing a baby human in your arms that lived in your womb ... wow!  And yet, that season of my life is gone.  My baby is slowly packing to leave my nest.


 My two friends that are suffering from unknown illnesses.  The heartache of living in weakness ... wow.  And yet that season in my life, too, is gone.  When Anxiety reared its head for the first time all those years ago, it stopped me in it's tracks.  Little did I know what a comrade it would become.

A 7th grade slumber party reminds me of how long ago this body was in 7th grade!  The hormones and hairdo's of this season in life ... wow.  And, thankfully, that season in my own life is gone ... long gone.  It has come full circle as I watch my own 7th grade daughter step into this phase of life following my footsteps.

Each season of life is so full, so rich, so sprinkled with "hard" and "easy" at the same time.  When we are smack dab in the middle of them they seem so eternal.  However, a little experience and perspective reminds me that seasons are just that ... seasons.  They go.  They don't last as long as we anticipate.  Instead of grasping too tightly or longing for them to last a little longer ... we've got to hold them with loose fingers.  That's really the hard part, isn't it?

My sweet friends baby is gonna grow up way too fast ... my friends will get well ... my 7th grader will one day be a college graduate.  Seasons.  Living in the moment, aware of the One who holds it ... and controls it ... that's the key in living them.