Back to … school?

I thank those who commented on my “Charlie & Linda” post. JD (Hope Remains) ) commented and made reference to it on his site. Linda thought it was a bit much for me to make those comments publicly but it is what my heart was saying and I wanted the world (or least those of you who visit this site) to know how I felt and to give her the honor due to her. Several of my brothers and sisters sent congratulations by email. Lawrence (my youngest brother) and Lily sent a neat e-card showing 2 “dancing” matches with the sentiment that we were a perfect match (Click HERE for the “non-customized” version). Several of our church family gave us cards.

We enjoyed our overnight getaway in the “BBB”. – peace and solitude and time to reflect on 40 years of marriage. We both agree that it is unlikely that we will have another 40 years since that would put us both into triple digit ages – we’ll leave that up to God and just enjoy the time we are given.

We have frequently taken a “nth” honeymoon trip on the Labor day weekend – we tend to like to be spontaneous and not make reservations or other firm plans. Sometimes that has worked well and other times – not so well. Almost 30 years ago – not long after we moved to the Sault - we decided to take a trip into Michigan . We (I) forgot that there is a Mackinaw bridge walk on Labor day – as a result all the motels for miles around were fully booked. After driving a couple of hundred miles and ending up in Grayling at midnight without a place to stay we pulled the plug and just drove home. That’s the stuff that builds memories and makes or breaks a relationship. In our case these little misadventures have given us lots to laugh about as we think about making another of these “spur of the moment” trips. At least with the “BBB” we always have a place to sleep if we can find a place to park it.

Anyhow – for many years we had to be back from those trips because school (in Ontario) starts the Tuesday after Labor day. This hasn’t been a concern for at least the past 5 years since Melissa graduated from University – although for the 4 years she was at Queen’s we often celebrated our anniversary on the road to/from Kingston or in Kingston helping her move and get settled in. (Of course if I was teaching we usually had to be back for that so it was only a couple of years that there was complete freedom to get back “whenever”)

This year we are back into the “school” thing because Linda’s niece Alyssa is boarding with us with she attend Algoma University. Having someone around every day will require some adjustments in our lives but we are happy to see and experience that youthful enthusiasm.

I’m also back to teaching and this week we came back to finish up the gardening project. Finally, I am back to thinking through how to help our church family "fill the gaps" that have been left by the Lansdell's departure.

There is a theme here.

How often do we have this need to “get back” into a routine of doing thedaily things that we want to do, into completing projects, into making changes that we want to make, into discovering and getting on with new projects.

This has me thinking of 3 things that God has called us to do.

First, as outlined in my recent post (Sunday August 27) is we are called to an ongoing “transformation”, ever increasing faith and spiritual growth- we are called to a journey – not a destination.

Second, I’m also reminded that God knew that we would sometimes “plateau” or even “go into a slump” and at times be ready to give up. This is shown by the number of times we are encourages to “keep the faith”, to persevere in the face of trials, and to “not grow weary” .

Third – God has called us to a “rest” – but a rest were we honor and connect more fully with him that we are able to do in the course of “having Him in our daily living”. Mike Cope has a post pointing to a book on this subject.

Life is a journey with hills and valleys, a journey, which as the Chinese proverb says requires us to keep taking the “first step” , it requires focus and direction. We also need to think & plan to be sure we are on the right track -- or t least not the "wrong one". While need to "keep on keeping on"life also requires some time to stop and “smell the roses” by communing with God. My prayer today is for the wisdom to seek balance in these things.

God Bless
Charlie