“I don’t need to know where I’m goin’ just need to know
where I’ve been. " Mater, Cars
My
summer is just about over, one week left and the crazy, busy life I call
school/work begins. I’m a little sad, but will be so glad to get back to the
routine, funny how the very thing that stresses me out during the school year,
calms me during the summer. I would like to
share with you one of the lessons I have learned, well, truth be told, still learning this
summer.
I have
had one of the weirdest summers I’ve ever had. I had my idea of how my summer
was going to play out. I started planning it several weeks before I was
actually out of school. (For those who don’t know I’m a teacher) My first day
of summer was planned and ready for me to enjoy long before the exciting moment
of being told, “You can go, enjoy your summer.” My first day of summer didn’t
go as planned, and this was a sign of how the rest of my summer would go. My
nice, strategically planned summer was about to become my nice, strategically
unplanned, planned summer. Please hang with me while I share the high lights of
my nicely planned month of June and how things turned out.
The second
full week of June was my first full week of summer. It was loaded with VBS,
getting my hair trimmed and highlighted for our upcoming cruise, visit with a
friend, and speaking to a group of girls. The third week of June was not as
full so we could recover from VBS and rest before our week long cruise. I had
plans to visit with friends, shop for the cruise (ya know, clothesJ), pack for the cruise
and of course clean my house. The last week of June was our cruise. Sounds
good, right? Nice, and planned out for the control freak that I am. Well, my
nicely planned month turned into a game of 52 card pick up. I had to reschedule
my hair appointment several times, for various reasons. Every time I would plan
something, I would have to reschedule. I finally decided to stop planning. This
is not an easy task for me. I was comforted by the fact that we did have VBS,
which was a great time. I did get to visit a friend as in one, not friends, as
in more than the one. We got to go on our cruise, which was a lot of fun. This
rescheduling and adjusting my nicely planned month threw me off track. I was
stumbling in the dark. I was so thrown off by this I couldn’t wait to board the
boat and get away for a week, although I was very nervous this being my first
cruise.
We
returned from our wonderful cruise and I realized it was now July. I had even
bigger plans for July but so far those plans haven’t happened, and will not
happen. I have spent the month of July recovering from the cruise, apparently
my body liked the rocking motion of the boat. I’m just now not rocking or
spinning every day. (Don’t worry, I’ve been to the dr.) This has meant that
once again my nicely planned month turned into my nicely unplanned, planned month.
In June I realized God was trying to teach me something but I couldn’t figure out
exactly what or why. A month later I had my light bulb moment. This moment came
during family movie night. The kids told me to pick the movie so as I went
through our collection of movies I was focused on picking one we haven't seen in a while and I picked Cars. With lights off, and popcorn
popped we started the movie. I have seen this movie at least a hundred times
and wasn’t expecting to have God speak to me. As the scene played out where Mater and
Lighting McQueen were speeding back to town after tractor tippin’ Mater starts
driving in reverse. Lightin’ is concerned about Mater wrecking and states his feelings,
but Mater’s response seemed to be louder than the rest of the movie so I wrote
it down. Mater said, “I don’t need to know where I’m goin’ just need to know
where I’ve been.” (Could be paraphrased) Wow, I understood what God was telling
me and had been trying to get through my stubborn, now swaying head.
“I don’t
need to know where I’m goin’”, equates to I don’t need to plan out every second
of my day because I need to listen to God’s directions. “Just need to know
where I’ve been”, equates to me realizing where I use to be and where I am now.
I’ve been driving and not allowing God to drive. Did you know race cars don’t
have headlights? The driver can only see in the dark because the track is lit
up. We, Christians, are in a dark world, and sadly, it’s only getting darker.
The only way we can see the path that God has planned for us is to follow The
Light. It’s nice to have structure, we need it, at least I do. The problem isn’t
having structure, but planning so much that we don’t allow our lives to be
influenced by God’s direction for the day. I don’t like that my path isn’t lit
up the whole way but honestly would I keep going and trusting if I could see
the valley or mountain that was in my path? (I highly doubt it!)
This
summer has not been an easy one for me. I have learned to enjoy the day and
each moment in it, but I’m still struggling with this. I’m not struggling to
enjoy the day or the moments, but to take each day as they come. Apparently I’m
still in the fast lane of life. I need to move over to the right lane so I can
slow down and stop on the shoulder every now and then to enjoy the scenery. Will
you slow down too? My challenge to you is: don’t get so caught up in your
routine and plans that you don’t see the path Jesus is lighting up for you. Until
next time “May Yahweh bless you and protect you.” (Numbers 6:24, HCSB)
