never a dull moment

…though it was close there for a second.

As our school year is drawing to a close, I’m forcing myself to relax as much as possible this beautiful Friday morning, despite all of the things I have on my To Do list. It’s the last Friday morning I have in this apartment, which I moved into less than a year ago today.

Sunday is our last school day, and Monday is graduation. Tuesday we finish cleaning out our classrooms, and then we’re officially done. Where did the time go? It feels as though I just met these kids.

Time flies when you’re having fun.
Time also flies when you have a lot of work to do.

When you’re having fun AND you have a lot of work to do, time becomes a Mach 3 supersonic jet with space shuttle thrusters.

I went from teaching an average of 4.5 hours a day last year to 5 hours a day this year.  This doesn’t seem like much of a change, except when you realize that teaching High School art really doesn’t require much work at all.  I had to prep for 5-15 classes a week.  Each project usually took a few days or even weeks. Prep was a joke.

Teaching elementary school classes, on the other hand, feels like you’re constantly running.  Classes are far shorter and there were 27 of them in total, plus, projects rarely go longer than a single class period.  I’m learning how to be organized!  (Note: that’s the present progressive….learnING. I’ve got a LONG way to go.)

This year has also been a huge change in lifestyle.  Because my visa was in limbo for so long, and my passport was expiring, I didn’t have the opportunity to travel much.  But that didn’t matter, because with the slight pay cut and the moving expenses, the car, and the cat, there wasn’t much extra leftover at the end of the month to travel, anyways. I’m not complaining, it’s just part of life.  I’m being refined and realizing more and more the value of money and the importance of budgeting.

Not that I haven’t complained to God many times this year.

(Again, I’m still learnING.  Still growING.  And I don’t think that ever stops!)

Last Friday, I was bored. Not bored as in “lack of things to do” but bored in the “where is my life going” kind of sense. I half-collapsed onto my living room floor and prayed. (It seems to be where I get most of my feelings out…lying on my back on the rug, staring at the ceiling).

I needed something new. 

And I’m learning that God really likes to answer those prayers.

That afternoon Pastor Jerry’s sermon was on “Time” and how we spend the little time we have on earth. (This is normal: He almost always preaches directly at me.)

The next day, Saturday, I found out that I’d probably be moving apartments. On Sunday, we visited our potential apartment.  We walked through it saying, “WOW….” at everything. On Monday, we were told that we had it.

It’s vacant this Sunday and we’ll probably be moving on Thursday.  Six days away.

Amazing how things change so quickly!  It’s why we can’t really say, ¹³ “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  (James 4:13-15)

He knows our hearts. He knows our desires.  And He wants us to be fulfilled in Him, not in ourselves. He’s got THE PLAN, and He has chosen us to be a part of it. And we’ve got to trust that everything He leads us through will be used for good.  (And, if we ever slip off the path, we just have to stop and tell Him, and then turn around, and He’ll lead us back to His plan.  He’s faithful and forgiving and awesome like that.)

Life can change in an instant.

But I’m learning that the longer you walk with God, the more you learn to trust Him, the more you read His word and obey Him, the more you realize the promises that He has on your life.  He’ll never leave you, He’ll never abandon you.

All things work together for good.

I don’t know what’s going to happen over the next few days or weeks or months or years. But I know that, God WILL be with me in everything, whether I choose to see Him there or not.

One night I dreamed
I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints,
is when I carried you."

Mary Stevenson

And I can’t wait until the day I see Him face to face.