In that space between waking and “five more minutes, please,” I found all kinds of strange things: John Wayne helping me fix a fender on my minivan (which I don’t have by the way), a deer running across a yard carying a Nationwide Insurance flag in its mouth (again, I don’t have that brand of insurance), a woman trying to adopt me (hello? I’m grown, and wasn’t an orphan anyway), and a tidal wave being held offshore while I watched a red boat carrying a red trailer as it dove and struggled not to sink (boats don’t carry trailers, do they?).
The strangeness of it all doesn’t make sense without some kind of decoder ring – or a dream interpreter. But as one coherent though peeped through, it started to make sense. John Wayne – from Sunday’s sermon and therefore Monday’s post. Deer with the insurance flag – my husband’s workplace insurance finally coming through on a claim that was creating lots of strange issues (it isn’t Nationwide either, but it is a company I don’t have personally – the deer part is more difficult to explain in the space and time I have here today). The lady trying to adopt me – a mixture of my concerns about the sabbatical and a comment I made on someone else’s post the other day about adoption having more to do with absence than death. The tidal wave and the red boat/trailer combo – that would be my redheaded self trying to sail through something I know is coming up but that I feel I don’t have much control over (again I get the trailer part but it’s really too convoluted for this post).
So I reached for my phone and called my husband, who quietly left for work this morning and let me sleep in, and asked him where the reset button could be found. “Reset?” he said.
“Yeah, I can’t seem to find one on my body anywhere and I was wondering if you knew where it might be?”
He laughed – out loud. He understood, and reminded me that reset buttons can sometimes cause more problems than they are worth because you loose the good lessons too – not just the programming that’s gone wonky.
I think it’s the first conversation we’ve had this week that made sense to either one of us. How crazy is that?
Which reminded me of someone else, who in later years didn’t make much sense either, that always quoted the same scripture to me on every birthday and Christmas card she ever sent.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)
It used to be the only scripture I knew. I would quote it to others when I was trying to fit in – climbing trees because that’s what good Christians did (see Monday’s post for that explanation).
But, even though I misused it for a good portion of my life, my great-grandmother’s intent turned out to be right on the money – she gave me something to hold onto when things didn’t make sense. She gave me the reset button I needed – and one that meets my husband’s desire to not erase the good with the bad – because leaning on God’s understanding does both. It resets the bad, showing you how He intended for you to walk through it and how you still can. It makes all things new while reminding you of the lessons you’ve already learned.
So day three of the three day quote challenge is done – and all because of a crazy dream and a quote passed down by a crazy old lady (to be fair crazy is incorrect – she had dementia and would sometimes fill all the glasses in her cabinet with water and leave them in the cabinet that way.)
And it is now time to explain the rules of the challenge and pass it along to others. I would like to pass this along to some new (to me) folks out there:
And a couple of oldies but goodies- though they are quite young!
And that leaves four more spaces – like I said a couple of days ago, I’m bending the rules here. I would love to see quotes from everyone I’m following or who follows my posts, but I also know you are busy people and I don’t want to annoy you with multiple challenges – since I already have some still floating out there. So, if we regularly exchange comments, consider yourselves challenged.
I – Post your favorite quotes or your own quotes for three (3) posts in a row.
II – Thank the person who nominated you.
III (a) – Pass it on to three (3) other bloggers per quote, each time you post them.
III (b) – Or pass it to nine (9) bloggers if you choose to post all the quotes together, in the same post.
The Serendipitous Sabbatical 