“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3: 5&6
If you were to guess right now… what profession would you predict for your child based on his/her interests and personality? Looking back, it amazes me how many signs were present during my kiddos’ childhoods that were strong indicators of the future careers that they would eventually pursue. For example, the son that liked to cut up dead frogs as a child went to medical school to become a surgeon. The daughter that was always singing and dancing earned a theater degree and became a performer. And the son that was compassionate and enjoyed helping people became a nurse.
Eventually, our nurse’s adventurous tendencies led him to become a “Travel Nurse” to a journey across the United States to a new assignment every 12 weeks. As his parents, we applauded this idea because it provides us a lot of fun locations to visit!
Currently, he is working at a hospital in Denver, Colorado. Knowing how much Ken and I like to walk, he invited us to visit over Labor Day weekend to go hiking. It didn’t take long (minutes at best!) for us to learn that our walks around Hiram Sims Park did not adequately prepare us for hikes at 11,000 feet in elevation! And as the path continued incline and I struggled to control my breathing, I did wonder at what point do I become concerned about how far it felt like my heart was beating out of my chest? However, more concerning was my footing along the path that was covered with rocks and tree roots. Too often, my eyes were focused down on the trail. Occasionally, my son had to remind me, “Mom, look up!” And when I did, I was awestruck at the beauty of various majestic mountain ranges that surrounded us. Often, I was too focused on completing (and surviving?) the task that I almost missed the beauty in the journey.
This school year, we have an ambitious list of goals and objectives that we need to accomplish, but we also want to “look up” and see the beauty in the journey throughout the entire school year. Each day is a gift filled with abundant blessings from God that we want to make sure that we acknowledge and enjoy.
In addition, we want to make sure that we always “look up” and keep our eyes on Jesus throughout this school year, knowing that He is ultimately the One in control of all things and can help us persevere through any situation.
As we begin this 2021/2022 school year, make sure you enjoy the journey and don’t forget to look up!
In His Love,
Mrs. Palka