goodbye summer

A new season…my favorite…begins with September’s arrival. Oh, I know. I know. It’s not really autumn yet, and the triple digit days are likely to hang on into October, but in my head and in my heart summer is over.

It’s been a strange summer here at the cottage. It’s been a season of reflection and revelation. It’s been difficult. It’s been cathartic.

A new season has arrived!

As September begins I’m making a list of things I want to do—want to refresh and renew, want to remake and remodel. In this new season I hope to purposefully regain my balance.

Although it seems unrealistic and unreasonable I’ve been off-balance for the past five years! FIVE (count ’em, 5) years!

How is that possible, you may ask. I’ve asked myself the same question and dug deep to find the answer. I don’t particularly like the answer, but here it is.

I’ve been off balance and stumbling through my days, looking for something ELSE, ever since our first trip to Arizona in 2009.

I’ll spare you the details. They hardly matter at this point. Just FYI though, we’ve made plans to move to Arizona at least four times since 2009, the first time we even sold our home. Every time our plans have fallen through, and with each collapse I’ve floundered a bit more. Oh, I’ve tried to ‘wait upon the Lord’, ‘keep a stiff upper lip’ and so forth, but in the end I’ve been off-balance for a very long time. Off-balance sounds so much better than un-balanced, but truth be told, un-balanced probably comes nearer to being accurate.

Stay Put!

Earlier in the summer I made up my mind to give up the quest for something else and just BE contented. Then early in August, based on the careless remark of a friend, I let my wants outweigh my common sense and found myself obsessing over a new place to live, a move, a dream house in a fantasy realm again.

Enough!

For the past week, a week that included our 37th Wedding Anniversary, we have been encouraged and directed to ‘stay put’ where God has planted us.

Obviously, the time has come to practice what I preach! Live in the NOW!

Now is all we have. Don’t live in the past…it is….past. Don’t strain after the future…some far away, fantasy future that most likely is not God’s best for us anyway.
Spend no time thinking of past failures. Count the lessons learned as rungs on a ladder. Step up.
Look inside to see if something is not in order. Seek to right your balance.
Stay put where God has placed you—don’t run to the world for help but keep depending on the Lord and His amazing grace and favor.
Don’t give up on God. Place your faith in the One who knows everything we need and promises to supply it as we need it.
Not only in the big decisions of life are we to accept and welcome His Will. We are to see it in each interruption, each task, and each adjustment however small. If we accept His Will the resulting joy will transform our life.