Enjoying Life Right Where We're At

"The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is in the every day things around us that the beauty of life lies." -Laura Ingalls Wilder

This is a follow-up to last August's post On Waiting.

A sweet woman whom I admire and look up to wrote to me last August after that post and what she said has stuck with me, that life is a series of "ages and stages" and encouraging me to enjoy the stage I am in. She said, "You will look back and treasure these days of freedom... Realize that when you are looking at the stage others are in and thinking you want that, someone else is looking at your stage and wishing they had yours. So be encouraged today to enjoy your stage."

It's not easy all of the time.

Especially when the newsletter arrives in the mail with the Women's Bible Studies at church, and they are primarily on Wednesday mornings from 9:45-noon. As a working woman/wife, the only option is either a study in Mandarin Chinese or Numbers on Wednesday nights.

Or when you are asked if you have any news to share?

Or the pictures of little ones and pregnancy announcements that flood social media. Don't get me wrong. I am overjoyed for those having children and love them for the little blessings they are (Psalm 127:3), but sometimes I can't help but see them and want to jump on the pregnancy bandwagon! :)

Despite all of these things, I want to encourage the rest of us (myself included), married for several years, to be patient. It is okay to wait. It will be worth the wait.

Just because it seems everyone else is having children, does not mean we have to right now.

Just because the Women's Bible Studies are geared to the stay-at-home mom, doesn't mean we have to lose heart and not enjoy our working-wife season.

It is okay to wait. It is okay to enjoy life right where we are at, in the season we are in. When it comes to having children, it is so important to grow together in marriage, in the Lord, and use this time to prepare for future parenthood. Why rush the season of life we are in to get to that next season?

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

This year, I am choosing to enjoy life right where we are at. We will never get this season back, and we want to live it to the fullest.

When that enjoying perspective gets hard, sometimes it helps to remind myself of the little reasons I am thankful for this season:

• the flexibility to travel and adventure together with my best friend
• living in community and being able to rent our basement
• nesting and decorating our home
• being able to spend hours in the kitchen cooking for my husband
• getting out of the house and going to work
• having time to ski and run
• being able to leisurely read parenting and birth books
• not having to arrive really early at church because of the overflowing nursery. This will be a struggle someday as we always run late...something we are trying to work on. :)

Whatever season you might find yourself in right now: Single, married, young family, empty nesters. Enjoy it to the fullest.

Instead of rushing into the next season, take a moment. Look back at the many blessings of the past season(s). Reflect on the many blessings (even the small ones) in your current season.

And rest knowing that for everything there is a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1), and we are called to enjoy it, right where we are. 

Even the winding road. For there is One who is far greater than ourselves.

"Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ." - John Piper

And in every season of life (of utmost importance), to enjoy the glory of the cross as our supreme treasure.

"Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us - a crucified God - must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world...But whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life" - John Piper

All of my life. 

In EVERY season. 

You are still God. 

I have a reason to sing. 

I have a reason to worship.