Consider the Lilies

 


I'm being stretched.  Asked to grow.  


I've been asked to leave my beloved little elementary school where I spent the last decade loving on littles and growing exponentially myself.


They need my help at the Junior High in the fall.  At first I just felt a bit shocked.  


It wasn't on my radar.  


I don't know those teachers, and it's been a long time since I worked with 7th graders.


Lots of worries, concerns and insecurities bolted across my mind and I had to stop and catch my

breath.  


But then...the thought that 1/7 of the students there are kids from our school.  


Our kids. My kids.


And tweens and teens need love too.  And boundaries and someone to believe in them. To help them harness the power of learning. 


So I talked to my husband and prayed about it and said yes.


But for the last two weeks I've been wrestling with the reality. The move actually comes with a reduction in hours and a matching pay cut.


The questions.  George also just resigned as the athletic trainer at Goshen High School.  He will still  do some of that work independently, but he will have an even larger reduction in both hours and pay.


And so we trust.  And adjust.


And when he brought home my Easter Lily for me, I can't pass it without "considering the lilies".  


And a favorite poem:

"Consider the lilies;

They don't toil nor spin

And there's not a king with more splendor than them

Consider the sparrows;

They don't plant or sow

But they're fed by the Master who watches them grow

We have a Heavenly Father above

With eyes full of mercy and a heart full of love

He really cares when your head is bowed low

Consider the lilies and then you will know

May I introduce you to this friend of mine

Who hangs out the stars, tells the sun when to shine

And kisses the flowers each morning with dew

Oh, but He's not too busy to care about you!

We have a Heavenly Father above

With eyes full of mercy and a heart full of love

And He really cares when your head is bowed low

Consider the lilies and then you will know

Consider the lilies and then you will know"

(Joel Hemphill)


Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful and timely push into the uncomfortable.  


A push that says it's time to move to bloom anew. 


I trust you, even if I don't trust myself yet completely.

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