Bits for Sunday, July 12 2009

FYI - Got a little post-crazy this weekend! Below this is a picture of the "super-cute pink shoes," a new recipe, and pictures of my "pool party" this weekend! Enjoy!

I had lunch with some friends today, and after their kids went down for a nap, the three of us sat in the living room and talked about a little bit of everything. I told stories from the “only in Bekahland” collection, and we all sat around laughing and having a great time.

Somewhere along the path, we talked about writing and teaching, and that led to a conversation that left me thinking.

I hate to admit that I’ve reached an age where I can “look back and see how things worked together in ways I couldn’t see at the time,” but it’s true. I have.

I told Paula that when I went to college and decided to major in writing, I really thought I’d be writing fiction the rest of my life. It was the only kind of writing I read up to that point, and I spent much of my spare time working on short stories. I had plans for the next great Bekah-novel.

But apparently God had some other plans.

My major wasn’t very demanding when it came to class scheduling. I always took every writing class offered that semester, but even with those and the required-for-all-students classes, I had many holes left to fill in my schedule. I hated science and math, so those classes were out. I wasn’t artistic, musical, or athletic, so that ruled out a few more. I had an academic scholarship, so it was important to take something that would keep that alive and well.

So each semester, I signed up for all sorts of Bible classes. I’d grown up with a pretty good background of the Bible and I thought I stood a chance in those classes, even alongside all the aspiring preachers.

And while I was busy filling my schedule with those classes, I also learned that there was a whole separate kind of writing I’d never realized I loved. I took a class in non-fiction and could have given up fiction entirely after that semester.

Today when Paula and I talked, I told her that looking back, I can see how God was involved in something as simple as an empty schedule for a writer-in-training. He was molding two loves right then for a work to be done later. A work that is not done yet. A work that probably has even more pieces feeding into it than I can even see (because I’m so young yet, you know).

Even better, my love of fiction and story-telling can still factor in when I write. Those loves were permitted to stay…they were just moved to a secondary spot to allow what is really important to have a place of prominence.

Sometimes it’s good to look back over life and see what you can decipher of the work God has been doing. It’s fascinating to grasp even a bit of His ways. And it’s good to remember that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)