Works in Progress

A work in progress.  It seems like that describes nearly every area of life right now.

My home...from the chest that needs sanding to the dresser that's sitting all uneven against the wall.

The Guest House.

The documents sitting on my desk in the office.

Relationships at church and here at the school.

No sooner is one thing checked off my list than another one (or two) seem to pop on my list.

It's not confined to tasks but spills over into my heart, my growth, my walk with God.  In the past week or so, He's brought some things to my attention.  Lessons I thought I'd already learned - grace and trust.

I have truth in my head, you know, but when I bump right into real life, it all gets jumbled up and I realize I don't have as firm a grip on it as I thought.

When you don't have a firm grip on truth, you end up doing dumb things.  Like sobbing over what kind of furniture to buy.  (For real, people.)  "Lord, where in the world is this coming from?!  I mean, it's furniture, for goodness' sake!"

Yes, I know grace, but somewhere deep inside a part of me still believes that if I mess up (e.g. buy "the wrong kind of furniture"...if such a thing is possible in the first place), I've somehow disappointed God.

It sounds monstrously ridiculous.  And it is.



Or how about my penchant for control that still hasn't died?  I've definitely seen growth in trusting God with His plans for my life, of releasing my desire for control and resting in the knowledge that He's got this.  But somehow, I let myself get sucked into a downward spiral of anxiety over His plans for someone else.  Anxiety sunk its roots in so deeply that my stomach would get tied up in knots at the very thought of the situation.  It was as if I couldn't trust that the God who had good, perfect plans for me would have good, perfect plans for that person's life as well.

Again - monstrously ridiculous.  Both lessons I should have learned a long time ago, I feel.  Yet I haven't, not entirely anyway.

And now I'm sitting here at the beginning of another week, a whole stack of works in progress staring me in the face.  I kind of feel like I should just get used to it, that this is the way it's going to be for a while...a long while.  Really, if I stop to think about it, my whole life is a work in progress; a work started by God.  And He promised to complete it.

This gives me hope.

- - -

He loves dancing.

I love him.

When more than half the dishes in your drainer are green...you may be slightly obsessed.

Sarah and Brian took the little dude to the zoo last week.

Oh, what I wouldn't give to kiss those cheeks right now...

He insisted on petting every. single. sheep and goat in the petting zoo.

Ah, the wonder of a child.

- - -

One last thing: did you know today it's been three months since I moved here?  Crazy.

Here's to new friends, to adventuring, to growing, and to seeing God, my ever-present Hero, at work through it all!