I’ve been playing in a sand volleyball league here in Dallas and had my last game last Wednesday night. We ended up losing in the playoffs which was a huge bummer but I’m actually grateful because it allowed me to sit and talk with one of the girls on my team while we watched the final game. All of the sudden I found myself having such a sweet conversation with this girl as we got into the details of our lives.
Turns out, Becky and I both went through quite a difficult journey this past year: a relationship with a guy that ended unexpectedly, family struggles, roommate conflicts, and our own battles with illness. As she was sharing with me about everything she had been through, I felt like she was basically telling my own story along with hers.
One thing in particular that she said stuck out to me. She metioned that she wished she could be in the next season. She doesn’t feel settled, is looking for a new job, hoping for more community. The next season…
In fact, it seems like most conversations I’ve had as of late center around this very subject. People everywhere seem to be in a season of “transition”. Not quite sure who or what they are supposed to invest in, not seeing the breakthrough that they are wanting; hearts burning with passion but feeling a little clueless as to what to do with it right NOW.
But what is scary to me about all of this is that those who are already in the next season that we think we want to be in are saying they wish they could go back to our season so that they could do it better, or more fully or absorb everything there was to learn for that time.
Do you know what I’m talking about? Seems like I always hear parents with grown children talking about how they wish they could go back to the days of changing diapers and having little babies around, and parents with new babies talking about how they wish they could go back to the times when it was just the two of them in an empty home, and the newly married woman longing for the days when she lived with her friends and didn’t have to tell a man where she was going all the time. But then the single girl only wishes that she could finally meet the man that she will hopefully spend the rest of her life with and the woman who has been married for a bit just wishes that she could finally get pregnant, and so on the story goes….
Can I be honest and say that I don’t want to be that person? Unfortunately, in some ways I think that I have been. But if I can’t learn to live FULLY in what God has for me today, then I’m afraid I might spend the rest of my life longing for something that will never fully give me the hope and life that I so desire.
How do we do it? I don’t quite know the answer right now. But I’m thankful that I get to hear from people who have gone before me to provide wisdom and help. And I’m thankful that God is Faithful and I can trust Him. And I’m thankful that I am surrounded by people who love me and are committed to seeing me live out my destiny.
Today, I’m praying that we “get it”. I am praying that we will move from a people of longing to a people of experiencing!
Have any wisdom of your own to share? Would love to hear!
Linnae
