Labor Day Weekend. Oh what a welcome rest after two weeks at school. Two very demanding weeks for me. Seeing the kiddos at school has been exciting. It’s all the other stuff that has drained me: Late days, keeping track of and assigning iPads, labeling 200 Chromebooks and slots in their new carts, fielding troubleshooting questions, entering Help tickets for issues in need of our engineer and new morning routines to get our high schooler out the door by 6:40. Not only did I wake up on Saturday morning and eat cereal at 8:30, but went back to bed for a mid morning nap until 11:00. Even after I had been awake for a while, I felt sleepy all day. I know it was my body’s way of telling me to take it easy so I did. After some grocery shopping, I came back home, unloaded the food and rested.
All summer it has been so hot. I love summer for swimming and playing. But today, I sit in my backyard looking up at Carolina blue skies while watching the sun go down. It is peeking through the tree tops. It winks at me. It sparkles. The air is fresh without the usual humidity.
What I really want tonight or on Labor Day night is to sit around a fire pit in my backyard and roast marshmallows. I don’t know if it will happen, but I am hopeful.
Today, I was reflecting on words from a visiting Pastor to my church. Dr. Randall Smith always brings words of life and hope when he speaks to my church as he did this morning. His words have resonated with me. He said that God sees me and what I can be which is what I will be when He finishes with me. All I see is what I have been and what I am now. Wow. I am trusing God to continue what He has started in me. I can’t see the future. God can, though. I trust that He is working in me even in transition times when I am learning new things on the job. This is a truth right from heaven
Yesterday, I was also thinking about what God is doing in my life and that he is continually working. I was reading the following Scriptures:
2 Corinthians 4:8-18 King James Version (KJV)
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
The words began to seep into my spirit.
Troubled, not distressed.
Perplexed, not in despair.
Persecuted, not forsaken,
Cast down, not destroyed.
Has life been troubling lately before this fine almost-Fall day? Yes. The Bible tells me, though, that I am not distressed.
Distressed means “suffering from anxiety, sorrow, or pain”. So, even Jesus told us that in this world we would have trouble. Then, he told us to “be of good cheer” or be happy because He had overcome the world. Trouble is hard. Trouble or stress has been unsettling for me. What I know is that trouble does not mean that I will have to suffer from anxiety, sorrow or pain. It is just trouble. It will pass.
Even when the tasks of life seem perplexing, God’s word tells me that I am not in despair. It is clear to me that there are seasons when God trains and molds for the next season. I am in a new season of life now with new responsibilities at work. I am trusting God not only believing in God to help me. I am thankful for how He has already brought clarity on how to handle situations that are new to me and brought people to me who have helped.
Knowing that God called Gideon a valiant warrior even when Gideon didn’t see himself in those terms reveals that God has special plans for each one of us. I am aware that God saw what Gideon would become.
As I breathe in the fresh fall air and enjoy my Moravian Pumpkin Spice cookies, I have to think that God is up to something. God sees what I have been and knows where I am headed. I trust Him to provide and guide me through troubling, perplexing days. He gives blessing and lifts our burdens.
The season is changing. The new is on its way. The landscape around me will soon turn to oranges and reds while leaves will twirl and gracefully dance as they exit what was their familiar spot on a tree. I am excited to see what God has planned for me. The landscape is God designed, God ordained. It will be good.
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