A Bigger Shovel (09/18/2025)

I promised myself a longer visit with the LORD this morning. I shared with you yesterday that I’d realized I needed to step back with some duties at my parish and make room to welcome a new batch of leaders to take the helm. It was the right decision, but it left a bit of a hole. So, I figured I needed more time this morning with the LORD to figure things out, to fill in the hole. I was right about needing a longer visit, I realized shortly after saying, “Good morning, LORD,” though that I was going to need to bigger shovel.

This morning as I sat feeling just a little bit hurt, not by anyone else but by my own vulnerability and that darn “aging process,” I learned soon enough that the LORD’s plan didn’t include a pity party. I found myself sitting in a swirl of other people’s needs that I was aware of sort of but I hadn’t stopped to think before about how we were meant to help one another. And soon, I was jotting ideas down of things I could do and should do this week.

And the LORD reminded me of my “empty nest” moment when I realized that my children were all on their own and the nest was just me and my husband. I had to find new direction and make new plans. The LORD showed me the wisdom of “turning the page” and the blessings that occur when I did in faith. “There’s more” He assured me, and He was so very right. I am still a mother and a wife, but the job description is different, and it allows me to go in different directions. I am still a parish volunteer, but the job description is different, allowing me to go in different directions. I love that about life in the LORD. He always has a plan.

And I found myself planning my day that was supposed to be my first real “free day” in over a week. It is still “free” the LORD reminded me; it is “free” to do what is right because I can.

And before I knew it, an hour had passed and my list was sheets long, and did I mention that while there was a change in my heart and spirit, there was no hole. The LORD is a master of informing, conforming, and transforming. That’s why the most beautiful gardens will always be His.

As we make our journey, all of us will find from time to time the need to turn the page. What has been has been blessed and wonderful, but it is time to move on. We carry with us memories, a sense of wonder at being a part of it all, and a desire for more. And the LORD helps us turn the page and find the more. It will be different probably, but it will still matter. I love “the way” that Jesus taught us, “your will not mine.”

So, I am sorry for the lateness of this post, but I do not regret taking the time. I pray that all of us will take the time we need in the transitions of our lives when we are being called to set something we love down so as to free ourselves to pick up something else. We are beloved children of the LORD and we will always have purpose. Sometimes, though, we need to make time to sit with the bestower of purpose and allow Him to show us his divine design.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.