Placing the Flag

The valleys, full of shadows and dry bones, have been traversed. The hills beat down by the sun, littered with rocks and uneven terrain, have been overcome and that last mile where the end was in sight but never seemed to get closer, is finally underfoot. I believe we have earned ourselves a date night on Saturday.

Kris is going to a new client on Monday. Owen goes back to school on Monday. I will be welcoming my old friend “Normalcy” back. I’ve missed her.

However, I am going to talk to her about a few changes. I’m not the same girl I was when we last hung out. I have a new diet I will be introducing to her. I also have a new outlook on a lot of things. A filter, one might say, on the priorities I used to find comforting. There’s a reason people walk through valleys, and if you don’t come out on the other side a little different than you were, you weren’t paying close enough attention.

There is a song by Charlie Peacock called William and Maggie. I’ve always adored that song. It speaks of an awakening, where life as you know it, your desires and priorities, suddenly change because you have seen more than you have ever seen before and you can’t stay who you were. There is a line I love that says:

“Oh, it always amazed me how someone could come to the edge of the world
Drop a stone down the side and turn and return to the very same life.”

I don’t think I’ve been to the edge of the world but I got a little closer to something bigger than myself in the past 7 months and I want to be sure that I don’t walk away before I realize the depth, the greatness, the height and the width of it. I want to be still, here, for a little while. I want to meditate on everything I’ve read and heard and write it down, carefully preserve the lasting things and package them for journeys I haven’t yet imagined. I learned a few things about myself, good and bad, I’ve learned a few things about my marriage and I’m very proud of those. I learned a few things about my husband (he’s a rock), my friends, my church and my family and I learned that I don’t know nearly enough about my God, His Word and His ways. So in this place…I will plant my little adventurer’s flag and call it accomplished. Exactly seven months, the number of divine perfection, and we have covered new ground that tested us to some degree, but more importantly it provided tools for us along the way that we would never have known to look for had we not taken this route.

“We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.” Romans 8:28 Amplified