Have you ever laid back in the leaves or on the grass or against a tree and thought about your life and your direction? Maybe the girl in this picture is thinking, “Is this really the guy I need to be with? He’s fun but a bit immature. He’s very social, but not really moving toward a career. Is it time I make a change?”
Maybe you’re on baby number two and you’re wondering, “Can I keep working at this job, farm out my children, and come home to household duties day after day?”
Perhaps you’re in mid-life. One child has graduated and one to go. You wonder how your life will look in the next few years. Or maybe, if you’re able to lie down in the grass and still get up, you might be wondering, “When I soon retire, should I take on that project I’ve been wanting to do or travel?”
Life-changes often take on new directions. In my late 50’s, I sensed the Lord leading me to dive into a new career of writing. I had been thinking about the lesser-known characters in the Bible, wondering what might be the rest of their stories, like the man whose ear Peter cut off in the Garden of Gethsemane. Researching the culture and the Scriptures would make this man and others come alive as the real people they were. Seven years later, my first book, “Ears to Hear” was published. I was bitten by the book bug.
Then, I probed into the life of Nicodemus. What made this chief of Pharisees ever come to accept Jesus? It would take powerful humbling. The story almost felt like it untangled itself. Seven more years later, “A Heart for Truth” was published.
On a roll, I chose one of the disciples, Matthew. Poor Matthew, with the tag “tax collector.” What would cause this good Jewish boy to ever become a hated tax collector, I wondered. Traitor was more like it; working for the enemy, Rome. I found it interesting that out of the four Gospel writers, Matthew was the only one who refers to God as “Heavenly” Father multiple times. Was that in response to an earthly father who wasn’t very heavenly?
Another seven years later, you guessed it, Matthew’s story was published as “Eyes to See.”
During these times of writing, researching, studying Scripture for clues, imagining, rewriting, attending writing conferences, checking on-line studies, going through the exausting loops of publishing, not to mention the daunting task of marketing, I have figuritively laid down in the leaves (as above) to ponder, “Is it time for change?”
More next time.
~ Joyce ~