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10 Minutes Peace
by Susan McGrath
It seems I have been doing that a lot lately - crossing bridges. Heading for new and exciting adventures, sometimes unfamiliar and terrifying I tend to feel like Frodo on his journey through Mordor, knowing there is a reward for completing the task, but dreading the journey. My challenges don't involve saving the world from an evil wizard, but sometimes they feel just as monumental.
Anticipating a career change, seeing my children grow up more quickly than I am prepared for (the "baby" in Kindergarten and the elder in band and football), I wonder if I am really ready to be on this side of the gulley. I know I certainly am not ready to burn the bridge on which I crossed, but realize that may even be a necessity in the future.
Recently I feel as if I have crossed many little footbridges over streams and ditches and now am psyching myself to cross the big span across the mighty river. Bridges are not my favorite thing. I am not especially fond of driving high above a treacherous waterway with only a thin strip of metal or concrete between me and a soaking. Change is not something I embrace easily either. I'm way too sentimental and like to stay where things are familiar and comfortable - not happening in my life today!
I know intellectually that God expects me to change and grow and that will often involve leaving my comfort zone and crossing a bridge to a new place, but my heart holds on to the same-old, same-old and I sometimes have trouble getting my feet to move in the right direction.
Rather than mourn what has been, I'm trying to embrace what is coming. That's easy in some cases where I'm meeting new and wonderful people or celebrating an achievement by one of my children. In other instances it is much more difficult, when I must seek a job with more hours and more responsibility or when I must step way out of my comfort zone into a ministry opportunity I had not anticipated.
What I try to remember is that these changes are opportunities, provided by God, for me to serve and grow. He wants to help me change for the better, but through that uncertainty of change I can be assured that He is constant. James 1:17 reminds me, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
Unlike Frodo, at least none of my bridges have spanned bottomless chasms or lava pits or been inhabited by fearsome creatures and my guide is more reliable than a friendly wizard or an exiled prince. When I consider that the God and Creator of the universe is providing a plan for my journey and acting as a personal guide, I can relax and enjoy the crossing.
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a recovering journalist trying to encourage others and glorify God through writing;
living the small-town life with husband Tim and sons Lincoln, 12, and Sawyer, 6;
completing a few put-off writing projects while using chocolate for therapy.
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