New Horizons

That's a cliche title, but I feel like we're living cliche days . . . it's all happened before.

There's a home for rent that seems to be in our future, and if the Lord is willing we will be renting it in a mere few months!

We were "burned" earlier after accepting to rent a dream house. The circumstances of the burn are unimportant, but the gist is that we were crushed. At least I was. I know Luke was disappointed, but I was *crushed* when I heard it wasn't going to work.

As I said in my last post, God seems to be teaching and reminding us through disappointment and other random struggles that He is in control and we need to lean on Him for every big and little thing. Lots of "golden opportunities" seem to be waved beneath our noses, and we look around for any potholes, but when we step to reach for it, we sink a few inches, or feet as the case may be. We realize we forgot to say "please," and were snatching, rather than holding our hands open to be filled.

God gives freely, and we need to receive freely. Grabbing never gets you anywhere, ultimately, and certainly trying to hang on will lead to disappointment. But holding your hands open means God can give and take without scarring. God gives and takes, but the amount of pain depends on whether you trust Him to give you good things and more good things, or replace good things with great things.

Watching Beowulf bob his little blond head up and down as he struggles to hold it steady to look around the room while sprawled on his tummy on the floor reminds me how very much I love him and how very sad I'd be if anything happened to him. It reminds me of fears I had while pregnant, fears unfounded but nevertheless fears of things going wrong. It reminds me of fears I had during childbirth, and afterwards, and even now I still struggle with fear for him. I am constantly reminding myself to open my hands and keep giving my baby back to his Creator.

But through disappointments I've learned (or re-learned?) that better things have ALWAYS come from them. If something amazing you want or desire is taken away, something far better is found in its place. When an opportunity falls through, a far better door (or window or kitchen cupboard) is opened for you to walk through.

It's cliche, but it's true.