My Unexpected Destination

In the spirit of living in “my new reality”, trying to learn how to cope with the changes that death has brought to our household, and the inability of my mother to understand why my dad isn’t here, I remembered this wonderful piece I wrote last year. I read it over again and was reminded how we can adapt to and accept change, maybe it will help you also. So many times in our lives, more often than not I would say, things just don’t turn out the way “they are supposed to” turn out. There are many turns in our life paths, and sometimes we don’t know the one to follow and we get beat up on the trip. My dad used to tell a little story about a man that went into town on a wagon. His farm was very close to town, close enough that he could have walked but, since he was buying supplies, he took the wagon to bring his purchases home. His dog ran along side of the wagon and ran off into the woods to chase a rabbit, came back and ran off again to investigate something else! There was a little stream and he splashed into it and running back through the dusty field got very muddy! He greeted someone on the street that said, “You must have come a very long way!” “No,” answered the farmer, “why do you say that?” “Because your dog looks like he has been running a long distance, he is so dirty!” “It’s like this” the farmer said, “While I was driving straight, my dog was zigging and zagging! If he’d run along side me instead, he would still be clean!” I think some of us are like that dog, we start out in life going pretty straight, then this zig and that zag comes along and there we go chasing some pretty rainbow instead of sticking to what we should be doing, ending up in a heap at the end of the trail, dusty and panting hard! If we would follow the Lord as He leads us, we would end up in green pastures by a calm and beautiful lake, with food enough to sustain us! My cousin shared something with me tonight that made me think of this. A woman who was trying to explain how it was to raise a child with a handicap from birth wrote it. I will paraphrase, by Emily Perl Kinglsey, 1987. It is called “My Trip to Holland”. She says it’s like planning a trip to Italy. You get all the literature that shows you wonderful landmarks you need to see; you get a booklet and learn important phrases to be able to communicate. You can’t wait to see the beauty of old Italy and you are totally prepared. Then you get on the airplane with all your newly acquired knowledge of the country you are visiting and hear the attendant say as you are about to begin your flight, “Welcome, enjoy your trip to Holland” HOLLAND, you think, I am not prepared for this, no way. I will have to learn a completely new language, get used to a whole new group of people, nothing will be as I imagined it would be. At first you get off your flight and you are so upset that you are in the wrong country, trying to get used to new surroundings, ideas, language and people, that you don’t notice the beauty of the things around you. It is only when you decide to be happy you are in Holland that you can see that it isn’t disgusting and ugly, but beautiful, full of flowers and warm, understanding people. When I read that message from my cousin Kris’ little Blackberry while walking through my garage, we both stopped and cried. Kris has a son that had such a severe stroke, at the young age of six months, that at the age of twenty-one he has never spoken, has to be fed mostly through a tube in his stomach, and cannot walk on his own. This beautiful young man, totally unable to care for himself, has become the beautiful center of his parent’s lives. Instead of missing all the things that might have been, they are enjoying hearing his squeals of delight at a toy or familiar face, watching Barney, or trying to “sing”. These parents planned for Italy, but got a wonderful trip to Holland. I remind you of Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Whatever you think life holds for you, enjoy where you land, Holland can be beautiful if it is in His plan! Be blessed!