It's time

     Vacation's over, and I'm headed back to work tomorrow. Growing up, vacations were all about fun trips where you could pack as many exciting activities as possible into one week of the year. Being grown up, you just want to get away and do AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. So my family, which is four grown ups and one teenager now, did just that this week. We sat on the beach all day every day and read books we've wanted to read since last summer while the sun drained us of all our energy. It was pretty awesome.
     The alarm clock goes off bright and early tomorrow morning though--forcing me to get back to the real world. But that's okay because I enjoy my work. Not many people get to work in such a wonderful environment with so many great co-workers. I'm pretty fortunate. And people don't believe me when I tell them that I decided on my career and even my current place of employment when I was in 5th grade and decided that science didn't interest me enough for me to become a brain surgeon in Maine (long story...).
     Funny thing is I've always had everything in life planned out. I go over everything I plan to do hundreds of times before I take the plunge and actually do it. But I've hit a road block now. I've never planned past landing a job, finishing my MBA, buying a house, and passing the CPA exam; all of which have now been accomplished. I may only be one quarter of my way through life, and I am not sure at all what to do with the remaining three quarters. So it's time to set some new goals--to do some more planning. What I need is a change in my routine. Because as I sit here writing this and pospone going to bed so going back to work seems just a little further away, I realize that what I dread about returning from my vacation isn't my work; it's the routine to which I am returning. Some would argue I need to stop planning and "just live"--whatever the heck that means. I will keep planning thank you. Things don't always turn out as I plan anyway--thank goodness--and I am absolutely fine with that. But the plan is the starting place. 
     There is a verse in Jeremiah that I tend to say is "overused" which upon reflection I realize is impossible in that God's Word could never be overused. Misused might be a better word since the passage is often referenced by prosperity preachers--those guys who wear the rose colored glasses and promise worldy riches and scoot right on by that pesky sin issue. Anyway, I digress. But tonight I'll use that Scripture because it has real meaning for me as I reflect on it. It's Jeremiah 29:11-13, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'"
     In it's context, God is speaking to His people who are exiled and in bondage. We're all in that same place though when we lose our focus or seek out our own desires. God grants us a reprieve though. He is always there for us. But as the verse says, it's not our job to worry about our "prosperity"; that's God's job. Our job is to seek Him; then we will know what it is we are supposed to do with our lives. So it's time to seek Him. It's doesn't always make life decisions easier, but it certainly makes the right decisions more obvious. (Anyone who has ever made a tough decision knows what I mean.)
     So when I get up tomorrow and head to work I know that I don't have to settle into my old routine, but I do have to act if I don't want to spend the next three quarters of my life in the same place I am now--which I can tell you now is not what God wants for my life and neither do I.

Fireworks

Growing up, my family always went to see fireworks displays on Independence Day, but it wasn't my sister or I that insisted we go; it was my mother. She loved (and still loves) fireworks. None of the rest of us were as enamored but we always indulged her. And when my little brother came along and absolutely hated fireworks because the noise hurt his ears, we still went, and he would cover his ears or sit in the car with the windows rolled up. Dad knew how much Mom loved the fireworks, so if there was a way for us to see them, we did.

I never disliked fireworks, but not until tonight did it hit me--"it" being what makes fireworks so magical. That wonderment--that simple awe my mother has always had finally made sense to me tonight. It's easy enough to explain how fireworks work, but when you see them in the air you just don't think about it. As they're bursting in the air you're amazed at how they seem larger than life. Their brilliance really does awe you, and you sense their power as they explode with that huge noise and the bright flash of colors.

And in a lot of ways those fireworks can serve as a reminder to what America is. America is an idea that is larger than life. We're one of a kind. As the city on the hill we have shared the brilliant light of freedom and exhibited our power throughout the years. But just because we were founded as in independent nation, doesn't mean we will stay that independent nation. We have to fight for it every day. Independence comes at a great cost.

We also have to realize that independence is not the freedom to do whatever we want, it is the freedom to do what is right. The former is anarchy. The latter is the America our founders envisioned when they declared independence 235 years ago. So we now have the responsibility to guard their legacy and extend it to future generations. So always remember to celebrate America's independence and never forget to fight to preserve it!

Happy Independence Day