Life Lessons

In my current season of being a caregiver, it leaves me little time for myself to do the things I enjoy doing. I also find it hard to steal away time alone to pray. Each day of my husband’s journey with Multiple Schlerosis gets harder as the disease takes more and more from each of us.  

So as I joined an online My One Thing summer coaching group led by author Nicki Koziarz, I found myself making going on a prayer walk a mile to two a day as “my one thing goal”. I set my goal and I was determined  to show up faithfully every single day for the five weeks of the course. Surely, I could tackle such a small goal even with all my responsibilities and list of things to do. 

As I worked my way into the group, I began to wonder if “my” one thing would accomplish much at all.  As someone who scores a  4 on the enneagram and has comparison issues already wired into their personality, of course I began to compare my thing to others and began to feel it was quite small and insignificant.  What could I possibly hope to accomplish and what difference would such a small goal make anyway. Right?

But I soon discovered that despite what everyone else was doing, this small goal I had set for myself was going to take effort considering my current season of constant demands from taking care of my husband along with added responsibilities of helping take care of my grandson in a season of Cov-19.  To continue to take time to get some much needed exercise, take a break for just me daily so I could avoid caregiver burnout and get in some much needed time to talk with the Lord without distraction and being interrupted would prove to be a difficult task for such a busy girl.  But I was determined to not quit just like Nicki coached us based on the biblical example of Ruth.  I would stay in my small and seemingly insignificant field of faithfulness no matter what. 

Surprisingly, I soon began to discover that there is not any adventure, no matter how small, that we travel making God a priority that he doesn’t meet us. What I had planned to just be some quiet time and a little exercise turned into a classroom of life lessons.  The more I began to talk to God the more he began to talk to me. The School Master of life opened his classroom door and led me in.  This my friends is what I have learned during my seemingly small and insignificant My One Thing prayer walk journey.

For every mile we travel there we are going to encounter both good and bad.  The sun will shine one day and rain the next.  Happiness won’t be found every day of our journey but with God we’ll always have a source of joy.  There is quietness that we find alone in his presence that can’t be matched by anything money can buy.  And to sit at his feet and learn from him is one of life’s greatest treasures. What he began to teach me by what my ears heard and my eyes saw on a tiny walking trail that just went round and round I will never forget.

1.  Sometimes we can start out on a goal in life thinking it will bring about instant visual changes.  I admit I am interested in instant success that I can both touch and see.  And although they sometimes happen, God is more interested in what he is accomplishing on the inside.  That part way down deep inside of me that houses character, integrity and a heart that will put him and others before myself is of the utmost important to my heavenly Father.  It is something he is slowly building in me one step at a time. So on the days I fail at being the world’s greatest caregiver or fall short at that whole Proverbs 31 woman thing, it is ok. Tomorrow is another day and what I struggle with today on this time around the track I won’t have such a hard time next time around. Why?  Because God is still working on me. I soon started to encounter a lady from my community on my walk several times a week that has been walking for years. I began to take notice that even though she has walked several miles a day for years, she has always remained the same size. No instant visible changes have taken place for others to see but still she keeps walking. You know what else I began to notice about her? She was always such a joy to see on my walk. She was always smiling and eager to talk. She walked because it gave her joy and that made the difference. The part I tend to stress so much over that everyone else might see has the potential to be a gift for them. But the part that others can’t see way down deep in me God has planned for it to be a gift for me. A gift with a potential to bring me great contentment and peace. Sometimes life is about others but sometimes it really is ok to let a few laps of my journey of life be about me. 

2. Even though I do long for life to be easy and carefree, life is never going to be that way on this side of Heaven. There, I even said that out loud. We are going to face obstacles in our path. Along with sickness and pain. There will be days when there will be a clear path for miles in front of me. Other days I will encounter the unexpected. Some days there will be broken limbs in my path, overflowing creek beds and often I will pass by litter and trash left by others.  I can let the obstacles that life throws at me make me quit or I can keep walking.  And life can’t get better unless I keep walking. 

3. God doesn’t mean for me to walk my entire journey alone.  There were days I saw old friends on my walk and other days I took my dog Mindy along for company. Other days my grandson joined me and we had some interesting talks. Yes, there were the other days when I walked alone and the conversations that took place between me and God just made me feel better.  But God made us for community and he will find a way to get us to the people we need in our life. Even along small walking trails. Even when we feel we don’t need anyone else. A little something I also learned from My One Thing class is that these very special people God has positioned to be there in our lives will serve to be like checkpoints in a big race. God may have them there to give you a big glass of water, a few words of encouragement or maybe just sit with you till you are ready to get back in this big race called life.  Don’t pass these people by. God has placed them in your life at just the right time for a reason. 

4. No matter how hard life gets, God still plants good things along our journey if we take the time to pay attention.  If we walk with our heads down all the time, we can’t expect to see all the good things he has for us. Some of the very best things are the small things in life. Some are even in plain sight but when we are always looking down at our problems we won’t see how the sun shines through the tree limbs above our heads, or how mushrooms grow at the base of a tree near the water or how beautiful cranes are when they take flight. We have to keep our heads up and look around or we will miss out on some pretty amazing things. 

5. God gives us quiet places to rest but sometimes we have to look for them and be open to enjoying them.  We can stay so busy that we can forget our resting places.  Just like Psalms 23:2 says, “He leads me beside still waters.”  That whole leading me thing is optional. He is not going to make me go anywhere when I am so determined to go somewhere else. It is ok sometimes to give yourself permission to slow down. 

6.  No matter how bad life gets we can’t throw in the towel on God.  Even though at times life is hard, we have to stir up in ourselves to know that no matter what things look like God has plans to do us good. He really can bring beauty for ashes, give hope to the hopeless, give strength for the journey and he can bring new life where things look barren and dead.  He can take what the enemy has totally hewn down and destroyed and grow something completely new. Never count God out. 

7. Getting to the best parts of our journey will require going the distance. We are going to need to build endurance.  And endurance is something you have to walk all your laps to get. It doesn’t come from sitting on the sidelines of life or taking the easy roads. There will be days you want to quit but the more endurance you have the more it will take to bring to you your quitting places.  And Sister, God has made the finish line totally worth it. He has a big celebration planned called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that you will not want to miss. 

8.  Sometimes as women there will be those times we get to dress up in our high heels and fancy clothes.  Other days it won’t be glamorous at all. There will be days that require us to put on a change of shoes. Walking around the gravels and rocks of life goes so much better with a good pair of walking shoes.  Dressing the part means more than just wearing that new outfit and hanging that designer purse around our shoulder.  Dressing the part will sometimes be more about wearing what is comfortable because going the distance is all that is going to matter. There will be days when you will honestly thank God for a good ponytail holder to keep the hair out of your eyes, a tee shirt and those worn out shoes.  

The seasons of life teach us many things. Some lessons we are eager and excited to learn.  Others are painful. Some lessons take days to learn and others can take months and years. 

Walking this road called life brings many changes. Some days you laugh. Other days you cry.  The thing to remember is to stay on your path and keep walking. Don’t ever quit. I have learned on this My One Thing Journey that even on the days that it seems that you are “doing the hard things in the midst of the hard things”  don’t ever quit. You can do this thing because with God you can do all things.