Bring on the Cocoa!

Is it just me or did Fall arrive with a vengeance this morning. The boys we outside to play and left the door open and within 20 minutes my thermostat said 68 degrees? Two months ago I could not have gotten my house to 68 degrees if I had tried. Trust me I have the electric bills to prove it. While I thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and water parks I love this time of year. I makes me want to curl up with a good book and cuddle with my family. It seems like every time a new season comes I am excited about the changes that are happening right outside my door.

I must admit however that by the end of fall I will be ready for Christmas tidings; and by the end of Winter I will be waiting anxiously for those first flowers to bloom. When the temperatures are hitting just barely too cold to swim I will long for more sun rays and warmer temperatures (just enough to jump in the pool and not freeze to death). By August, I am ready for that first cold front, mythical as it seems at the time. I love the changing of the seasons .

BUT...

In the last year or so the Lord has really be working on me to enjoy the season I am in. (Transition here from speaking of the physical to speaking of the spiritual in case you missed it.) In many ways I am always looking forward to the next thing instead of relishing and delighting in what the Lord has me in now. I have been striving towards achieving this goal or that my entire life. In May, all that ended. I finally got my Master's degree. I was ecstatic, but with that being said the three little letter PhD are not in my foreseeable future. Right now, in my life, it is just the right now. I have always assumed that I needed to be working towards something to feel fulfilled, to feel like I was accomplishing my purpose. I was wrong. I have never been happier and more fulfilled than I am right now.

About 6 months ago the Lord birthed in me a passion for serving my husband and raising my children with everything that I have, not merely everything that is left. I have been told by the world that I need to be (fill in the blank) to be a fulfilled woman. I have believed that I had to know where I was going and make only the best possible twists and turns. For the first time in my life I have no idea what the Lord has in store for me or my family. I don't have anywhere I am heading. I don't have any goals (in the traditional Natalie sense). I am simply enjoying my season. I am loving where the Lord has me. I am loving Him. For the first time in my life, I don't have a five year plan, and it feels great!