My Summer

A few years ago at a youth conference, one of the speakers named Phil Lapp used a beautiful potted plant with mixed flowers as his main object lesson. Each of his sessions had amazing spiritual applications using the plant. In between sessions, we would all notice it beautifully sitting up on stage and be reminded of what lessons learned from it.

Then, on Friday afternoon, he got up and told us that we are God's plant, that God formed each flower and leaf to better show off his splendor and majesty.

But then, Phil picked up garden shears and began to cut of flowers! With every snap of the shears, my heart wrenched.

Why was he cutting off the flowers! Why?

Aren't the flowers symbolizing God's good creations in us?

Was he really going to cut all of them off? No!

This summer can be summarized by saying I am that potted plant. I was full of flowers that only God could produce. I had the life.

Then, one by one, God cut them off.

Why Lord? Not that one! I really liked getting to do that! I wasn't planning on missing this event! Why did those things come up when they did? Why couldn't they wait?

But then, Phil showed us the tiny buds, barely formed, so tiny you could only see them by looking closely.

Hope.

God is clearing the way for his plans, breaking up my fallow ground, preparing me for the next chapter.

I look forward to seeing what God has been preparing me for.

A man's heart plans his way, but The Lord determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

Ten Years Ago

Though, my childhood teetered on the cliff of divorce and separation, I was completely unaware and innocent.

If you had told me our vacation would turn into a 3 ½ year stay in one state, and a 6 ½ stay in another, thousands of miles away from my home, and I still wouldn't be back in ten years, I would have stared at you for a long time, blink, and just like that, I wouldn't believe you.

And yet, here I am.

Ten years is a long time when you are young.

If I found a magical genie who granted me three wishes, you would not find me wishing for things to have been different with my parents, or my friends from back then. I have learned to be grateful for what the Lord has deemed me worthy of.

Through suffering comes peace, through sorrow comes joy. If there is no rain, there is no rainbow and every cloud has a silver lining.

My childhood fell down the cliff with quite a few bumps along the way. With the end of my childhood comes the dangerous climb of college, jobs, and young adulthood.

May God continue guiding my path to the next ten years, and the next, and the next…