Bloom where you're planted

Last Friday I was pretty frustrated - the week was hard, and nothing seemed to be accomplished the way it needed to be accomplished or should have been accomplished. I felt like all week I had been beating my head against the wall and embodying the philosophy "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again". That evening a few of us got together for prayer, as we usually do on Fridays, and one of my friends as he prayed for me and my research said "Father, help Kelly to realize that this is real life. Let her know that life doesn't begin after grad school, that this is real life". I was kind of puzzled for a while, and mad a little, because I didn't want that to be real life! Real life is supposed to be good, supposed to be hard for a little while, and then get better, especially if you pray a lot about your situation. I mean, God can't keep not answering your prayer forever, right?

As is often the case when God is trying to speak to me, he doesn't just say things once and leave me alone. Last week, I had heard a sermon about how Joseph, and how he was faithful even in the middle of his story. It was hard, and took YEARS to get out of it, but God gave him big things to be in charge of, because he was faithful in little.

The sermon this Sunday was on Jeremiah 29 and how the Israelites were in exile, but told to settle down, plant fields and harvest them, and to give their sons and daughters in marriage. What?? Kind of crazy, since they were in exile, and that's certainly not what God had in mind for them. But it was a good reminder to me - this is real life. I can't always be looking forward to the next step, trying to ignore or avoid or bypass what's going on right now, in front of me. Kind of also reminds me of the movie Mary Poppins. Remember the point in the movie where the twins could talk to the birds in their window? And then the twins got older, and no longer understood the birds. I don't want to get to the point where I no longer hear the birds, no longer see what's right in front of me, just because I grow up and other things crowd me out. May I be like a little child, coming to my Father, trusting him to carry me through day by day, and truly experiencing real life, here and now.