Finally! After much prayer, patience, wondering, and waiting, we closed on our house. One year after we officially left Paducah, we can bring some closure to that season of our life.
I think back to the many great memories that were built from time spent in that home. Our children learned to ride their bikes out on our street there. The endless nights of tossing ball out in the front yard. The laughter and stories still ring in my ears as we grilled out in the back yard with friends. All the different “masterpieces” that our children drew on the kitchen and living room walls. The countless house projects we started and asked friends to come in and finish. The slip-n-slide days out on the side yards. Coming home to find a dozen kids with popsicles jumping on the trampoline. And the memories go on and on…
On more than one occasion, Ang and I have discussed how we wish we could just pick that home up and bring it to Nashville. And it was a good home with a good layout. But I think it is more about the memories and the times we spent with people there that we wish we could bring with us.
While we will carry the memories, that is what they are. Memories to enjoy and learn from. But that is it. We can’t live in those memories or try to re-create them. We choose to live, and learn, and enjoy the new plot we have been given. To discover what it is God has for us here and glorify Him in it.
As we grow older, we go through different seasons that God will bring us through. And as these seasons change, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the next one is going to be better or worst. It will just be different. A different setting, different circumstances, different people, but the same goal.
The tendency is to wish things could go back to the way they were. Or to hope that your present setting would just get better. But that is wasted energy and time that can’t be undone. God takes us through seasons for one reason… to be glorified through our living.
So let the seasons you have come through go and live in the season you are in. It may a prosperous season or a painful season. It may be a season of regret or a season of repentance. It may be a season of blessing or a season of burdens. Whatever it is, don’t waste time wishing you could go back. You can’t.
Rather seek to glorify Him in that season and move as He leads. Look for opportunities to be faithful to the call and expand the Kingdom of God. Grow and mature in your faith. And hope with an uncommon hope that when this life is over, you will move into that eternal glorified season with your Savior.
