Getting Started on Getting Changed

It's Saturday morning, late. We all had a chance to sleep in. Fresh saskatoon muffins for breakfast. Sun streaming in the window.

My husband announces that in this upcoming week, his one week in between jobs, he is planning to work on putting up trim in our upstairs. We did some major renovations upstairs awhile back and now he has a few days to work on those final details that seem like they shouldn't take long but generally take as long as the whole rest of the project.

The question was whose bedroom he should tackle first. He asked the kids if anyone wanted their room to be done first or if we should pick straws to see who would go first. My middle son, who half the time is jumping up from the table anyway, jumped up from the table and shouted, “Me, me! I do! Do my room first!”

Well, my husband continued, whoever's room was going to be first would have to clean up their room today – clean and get their furniture ready to move out of their room, that clean.

“Oh,” said my son, without a moment's hesitation, “then let's pick straws.”

He promptly went and selected a purple straw and cut it up into varying lengths and a draw was made. The long straw was drawn by his older brother meaning his room was going to be first and the other kids subsequently in their proper birth order. And then my middle son was upset. “But I wanted to go first. I said I wanted to go first.” He was not very pleased with his older brother.

The whole scenario was rather humorous to the onlooker, not so much for my son.

I only wish I couldn't relate so well. Some of the time, I am seriously confused about what I really want in my life. Is this what I really want or is this something I think I should want, or worse, what I think that others think that I should want? Other times, I know what I want, but am so daunted by what is involved to make that thing happen, or I am scared by the change that will be inflicted on my life, that I back away from the very thing I want, finding it easier to stay in the disarray that I'm familiar with. And then I end up resenting another person who has taken the course I wish I could take.

Maybe I can take some comfort in a similar parallel to my son's experience. His room will get trimmed out, he'll get a closet door, it will all happen, and he will have a little extra time to make the necessary adjustments. I do believe that good comes out of everything in life and at a time when we're prepared for it, if we're paying attention. So maybe my son and I should go collect some boxes and a broom and get started.

In their hearts humans plan their course,

but the Lord establishes their steps.

Proverbs 16:9