So instead of moving forward, I decided to just let that one simmer in my prayer life for a while and not force any more writing about it for the time being. It was a good place to start the summer and it led me to a deepening of my Faith, I think. But then time began to tick by and I wasn't moving much beyond that, and lost my momentum a little bit.
You see, I have struggled a little bit with this pregnancy. As much as we were open to life and even expecting to be blessed again before too long, it happened awfully fast this time, and that left me reeling a bit. As I looked forward into the rest of the year (always a dangerous thing to do), all I could see was an unending line up of exhaustion and work to be done. It just looked so daunting.
Instead of marching around Jericho, I took a little break to crawl around in the mud and feel sorry for myself. How could I ever keep up with all this? How could I do any of the things that I wanted to do like write or read or make rosaries while under this extreme work load?
Are you seeing some of the Control and Surrender issues I have been trying to write about crop up here anywhere?
Yes, the reason I haven't been able to take this blog topic any farther is that God isn't done nailing it into my skull yet. He's working on it, though, and hard!
Then I remembered one of those little Mary Engelbreit prints:
I figured that it really was as good advice as any at this point. I had to start from somewhere and usually, starting where I am is the very best place. So this is my life. Time to take stock, be thankful, and continue the journey. Slowly, one step at a time, one prayer, one messy little kiss, one dinner cooked, (and just now - one more horrendous poop mess cleaned up) and I started to lighten up and remember that *this* is blessing. Not some random future time when things run smoothly and "it all gets done". No, the good time is now. All I have to do is keep circling around Jericho and the Lord is with me and I am molded into something I never knew I could be.
I was blooming. Still pouting a bit, but mostly blooming right where God put me, right where He knew was the best place for me to become closer to Him and to let go of myself. But He wasn't done...
There was a little snag on the horizon. I spent nearly a week in the hospital, very sick and am now just trying to get back on my feet. It is going to take quite a bit of time and rest for me to feel like myself again. Thankfully the baby is fine and still growing well, and I am recovering. Family and friends have come forward to help us with meals and rides for the kids and work around the house. I am so thankful for their help!
But I have to laugh just a little as Control is completely out of my hands once again and all I can do... in fact the best thing I can do - for myself, for my family, is to utterly surrender and just let this unfold.
To answer the question I began with: Where am I now? I am starting again, trying to remember to bloom where I am planted (which is currently firmly on the couch) and feeling, at least for now, a little more comfortable with my lack of control.
I'm not giving up on my series on Control and Surrender. I will continue that as the school year gets in swing and I have more time (ha ha!!) for writing again. After all, I have had such a handy refresher course on it...
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