Give it some time.

2020. Well, not much more needs to be said, right? I've learned that I'm a great writer in my head (no so good at getting it out of my head), I enjoy not going to the store every day, I'm really tired of figuring out what's for dinner and I'm much more of an introvert than I thought. Maybe it's because I've had the privilege of being interrupted in the bathroom for 8 months straight. (Read my book, ha!)

Whatever 2020 has brought about for you, I pray it has brought at least a little bit of clarity. Maybe it's been a chance to stop and see what's most important or an excuse to say 'No' to some things that needed to go. Hopefully you've chosen to intentionally connect with others and with God or even taken the opportunity to try something new.

Every once in a while in this season there's that nagging doubt that God's plan is all working out for good. I complain about my messy house or crazy kids. I cry as I look around and see the hurt around me. I'm ashamed at the way I see people treat each other...I'm ashamed at how I treat others. I sit folding laundry while scrolling FB to see my peers climbing their ladders and I can say I've intentionally stepped down my ladder for the past 6 years. Maybe you feel the same. Or maybe your ladder got kicked out from under you and not only is it a change but now you're hurt.

I pray you find solid ground knowing that not one single step of this journey is a surprise to God. I was listening to Pat Barrett sing Canvas and Clay and stopped at the lyrics
'I know nothing has been wasted
No failure or mistake
You’re an artist and a potter
I’m the canvas and the clay'

As an artist myself, I can't tell you how many times I've thrown away subpar work and started over. Sure I could have tended to the work and restarted or remade but the trash was much easier. The thought that God chooses to not toss me yet lovingly remake and shape and remake, no matter how many times I roll myself off His table onto the dirty floor, is a word picture I grasp. Like a breath taking stain glass window, every part of your past and every step in today is part of HIStory. And it will be made beautiful in time.

"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11