A person's point of view (POV, as writer's magazines call it), truly and totally dictates almost everything in their life.
During my mid-twenties I had the opportunity to teach English overseas. The organization I taught with had many single people (okay, at the time was MOSTLY single people) and I really learned a lot from my older teammates. Some of the lessons I'm not sure I fully grasped until much later, but they put the foundational thought blocks in place for me.
All my life it was wrongly emphasized that the role of a woman was to grow up and be a Mom. Not by my parents, but by many around me. At school, like at home, I was taught to grow up and use whatever talents/skill sets I had to the best of my ability (with certain limitations, of course, but I won't go into the insanity of small town Alabama).
At my college graduation, one of the professors commented on how our class was unusual, that over half the class wasn't engaged or seriously dating anyone...not common for a conservative, evangelical school.
And then I spent three years with singles much older than me...who were totally content and happy with life.
It was life changing. I asked many of them questions I probably shouldn't have asked. But I learned that life is not to be lived in view of what we don't have, but we DO have.
I can't say I've totally mastered that concept, but I have tremendously improved. For different reasons, that's been on my mind quite a bit the last few weeks. Then this morning, an internet friend posted something almost along the same lines.
It would be a stretch to join the apostle Paul in saying "I have learned to be content, whatever condition I'm in" but I can rejoice and say I'm a lot closer to that goal than I was 20 years ago. (Has it really been that long?)
I still don't have pictures to post yet, but today I'll spend my semi-retired, kid free day in the garden, the laundry room (sadly that doesn't go away no matter what your station in life is) and my sewing room.
And all is well. :)
During my mid-twenties I had the opportunity to teach English overseas. The organization I taught with had many single people (okay, at the time was MOSTLY single people) and I really learned a lot from my older teammates. Some of the lessons I'm not sure I fully grasped until much later, but they put the foundational thought blocks in place for me.
All my life it was wrongly emphasized that the role of a woman was to grow up and be a Mom. Not by my parents, but by many around me. At school, like at home, I was taught to grow up and use whatever talents/skill sets I had to the best of my ability (with certain limitations, of course, but I won't go into the insanity of small town Alabama).
At my college graduation, one of the professors commented on how our class was unusual, that over half the class wasn't engaged or seriously dating anyone...not common for a conservative, evangelical school.
And then I spent three years with singles much older than me...who were totally content and happy with life.
It was life changing. I asked many of them questions I probably shouldn't have asked. But I learned that life is not to be lived in view of what we don't have, but we DO have.
I can't say I've totally mastered that concept, but I have tremendously improved. For different reasons, that's been on my mind quite a bit the last few weeks. Then this morning, an internet friend posted something almost along the same lines.
It would be a stretch to join the apostle Paul in saying "I have learned to be content, whatever condition I'm in" but I can rejoice and say I'm a lot closer to that goal than I was 20 years ago. (Has it really been that long?)
I still don't have pictures to post yet, but today I'll spend my semi-retired, kid free day in the garden, the laundry room (sadly that doesn't go away no matter what your station in life is) and my sewing room.
And all is well. :)
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