Joyfully Where We Are

Cancelled.

Postponed.

Modified.

We’ve all heard it these past few months. Sometimes it just makes my heart hurt—especially when the no longer happening event involves the kids.

My son had a whopper of a cancellation this summer. His baseball team, taking the field together for years, planned on wrapping up their final season with a full week in Cooperstown, New York. Baseball Hall of Fame! It’s a once in a lifetime, age-sensitive, experience for young ballplayers. They had been gearing up and fundraising for a year. And as we all expected, it was…CANCELLED.

Deep breath.

As an alternate way to celebrate with the team, we planned an awesome paintball outing during the week they would have been away. The boys were thrilled (coaches included)!

Until the morning of the event.

We woke up to flash flood warnings, anticipated thunderstorms, and lightening bolt images plastering the forecast! Another disappointment on deck for the team.

The last thing we wanted to do was postpone the kids’ paintball day, and mess up the parents’ work schedules even more, but it was the only reasonable option as we looked at the weather. So we called it.

Within thirty minutes of that decision, the forecast completely changed. Not even kidding. It was too late to recover the plan at that point, but the sky was clear and we would have been totally fine to go.

Once my emotions settled, the clouds dispersed for me as well. I was able to see life’s truth reflected in that moment.

I remembered a conversation with a friend who was struggling with regret. Right in the midst of her heartache, she began to acknowledge that—even though things got messy—she had made the best decision she could all those years before. “We look at the past with the knowledge of the present” she reflected. Recognizing the unfair vantage point and the need to cut herself some slack.

I don’t recall many details of that interaction, but I have never forgotten her words.

We can quickly beat ourselves up or let our heads spin when things don’t work out as we hoped. Yet so often, we made a perfectly sound choice with the knowledge we had at the time. We looked closely at the forecast and responded accordingly. Whatever happens after that is part of the journey. The fascinating, winding, unpredictable journey. And in my own experience, I always find God’s hand right there—in the place I never intended to visit in the first place.

The way we grow and change with each passing day is exquisite. We pick up beautiful, priceless gems along each path we travel. And while it would be fantastic to carry our wisdom to the past and fix a few things, the best we can do is stand joyfully where we are, ready for the next step forward.

“I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:13

I drove by my church while in the process of writing this post and their sign was just right:) Thanks Calvary!