Two Novel Thoughts

You guys. I am so excited right now.

After I graduated I got super concerned about continuing to learn. I have loved learning and I know it has so much to do with our personal growth. So finally graduating and moving on from formal learning was exciting, but also alarming.

Since then, though, I feel like I have learned so much! Mostly things about myself. I've been on this sort of self-exploration learning journey. Honestly, when I look back at me during high school I feel like I had more things figured out then and knew myself better then. Maybe that was part of the teenage "I know everything" attitude, but seriously. I used to think when I got married I would have arrived. Arrived where? I don't really know. I guess I thought that by the time I got married I would have myself figured out...

Well, poop. If that is a real boat, I missed that one for sure. I feel like getting married has actually been the experience to help me understand so much more about myself. It is exciting. Although, I don't always feel excited learning about myself. It is a hard and treacherous road sometimes. And then it is compounded when the joy-thieving monster Comparison comes out to play. At those moments I feel completely lost, discouraged, and weirdly, behind.

Two novel thoughts that I am very excited about has been:
1. Life is not a race.
2. We are all on the same team.

Hallelujah! God knows exactly where I am and he knows exactly where I need to be and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter that couples who have been married shorter than Mckay and I are having children before us. It doesn't matter if she knows what she's passionate about and I don't. It doesn't matter if their plans are working out quicker than our plans. My sweet Lindsey family has a plan and as long as I choose Jesus Christ every day I will move along my path at exactly the pace God wants.

Hallelujah! I don't have to compete with anyone. Those pesky little comparison thoughts that destroy my confidence and cause my self doubt are completely demolished with the simple thought that we are all on the same team. It is so awesome for her that she can create cute, beautiful prints, pictures, songs, books, etc., because I am on her team. I get to benefit from her amazing talents. It is so awesome for her that she has that opportunity because I am on her team. I get to benefit from the knowledge she gained from that experience.

You see? Comparing has no joy, no strength, and no validity. We are here to help one another make it back to our father in Heaven. That means there's always someone who can reach out and help me and there's always someone I can reach out and help.

Such happy lessons. Such happy thoughts.