Plane Tickets and Plants

This week I purchased plane tickets.  This will be the first time we Elledge's will have stepped foot on American soil in over 4 years.  (OK, Chris had to go back for his Father's funeral for 8 days after we had been here only 9 months and 6 months later I went back to say final goodbye's to my Uncle.  Other than that, we've been camped out on European territory.)

I'm not sure how I feel about all of this.  Not just the going back but ... the being here ... the leaving here ... the returning "home" ... the coming back to here.  We live a certain lifestyle that is often odd.  In fact, so odd most people don't "get us".  Home can't be defined by the amount of time you've planted roots in a certain place.  The 4 years we've lived here we've lived in 2 different places.  I've learned that "home" isn't determined by the way others around you look, speak, act or think.

This week I also trimmed a plant.  NO big deal in the grand scheme of life, but this plant is very much like how I see my life.  This plant grows very fast.  If I don't trim it often, it grows out of control.  So, I snip little pieces of the newest growth, put my little "sniplings" into little vases of water giving them time to grow new roots and then transplant them into other pots.

And so I draw the following conclusion.  We've chosen a life that grows and changes very fast just like my above mentioned plant.  If live by my own reasoning, it will grow out of control.  God uses little "snips" now and then to teach me about me ... but more importantly about Him.  The gracious thing is ... these parts that he trims ... get used ... and the lessons keep giving to others ... and to myself.  From one life, comes many lessons.

Here's to growing more and deeper roots ...