WHile I was waiting........

My morning bike ride is not getting easier. Hoeing up the ever present weeds in the yard isn't getting easier, either. Getting the swamp cooler ready isn't AS hard, but wasn't easy either. I hurt in the same places every day. I have a shoulder that's really paining me. My bke seat was designed in some hell-hole where the employees all look like Igor and giggle under their putrid breath.

The concession is that I am not a kid any more. I'm not even close to kid status. I'm looking back at my life so far, trying to figure out if I've accomplished anything at all. I think most people do at one time or other. 
Like most adults, I had big hopes and lots of dreams and plans for my life. I had a path toward a career I really wanted, that got derailed by my heart. I took another path with a time limit, at which time I could jump back on my first path. But, life happens. 

 My chosen paths got run over, blurred, and all but lost. Then suddenly, I was back on my planned path! Hooray! But, life happens. Not only was I derailed, my train wrecked. There were casualties all over the place. Along with my family, I rebuilt a rough path. And it took a long time. I wallered around enough to land on my old path for a time, this time hitting a dead end. Because, life happens.
About that time, I thought "When will it ever be MY time? When will I get to do the things I've always wanted to do? When will I ever DO anything?".
So, I decided to do something different. I left the path. All of them. I chose to be still. And, life still happens. But with a lot less stress.
I look back over my path-crashing life and realize something. While I was focusing on chosen paths, God was flooding me with life!

When I share stories about my life, people are amazed. They can't believe half of it's even true. My insanely funny, smart and wonderful family, has been a fulltime challange. I'm been in control, in hysterics, in shock, in denial, and always in love. While I was wondering when I would ever accomplish anything, MY LIFE happened.
Every day. 

I have discovered in the past ten years, that I'm having some memory loss. I have to have family members and friends replay some things I have forgotten. But everything I DO remember is shocking. I have had such a successful life, I have been priviledged with a remarkable husband, unparallelled children, and one adventure after another. 

How could one person live this much in such a short time?
God has watched and walked with me all this time. While I was designing paths and a life, He was planning the derailments. I look and see what a dull, boring, and empty story I could have had, if I had followed my own designs.
Oh! Glorious derailments! What happy stumblings! Because, when HE is the Designer, really real LIFE happens!!

Shalom!