Today is the day I have long anticipated! I feel like it is moving day–and I am staring at all the rooms needing filling. It is both overwhelming and full of possibilities. Space. Margin. Uninterrupted. Exhale.
Today all four of our children are in school ALL DAY. I love our children so much and love having them home, but for the first time in 14 1/2 years, I am alone at home. I like alone.
For the first seven years of our marriage, my Chris and I had no children (but oh, we longed for them). During those days at home, after two years of working full-time, while Chris was in Grad school, I filled the spaces with very long times in God’s Word, decorating our home, learning to cook, crafting, time with friends and exercising.
That was then. Now? Well, I don’t know… I will tell you how my morning has gone so far: Awoke early, drank coffee, read my Bible and made breakfast…took back to school pictures, printed the sheets for how to do school-pick-up this afternoon, played around on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, prayed over kiddos as they left or I dropped them off…then I WHOOPED loudly and clapped unabashedly all the way home. I parked in the silent garage and hollered and whooped again–HalleluYAH!
First thing when I got home, I walked to our front door floor and laid down face first–completely prone. And I prayed. I praised God for His abundant gifts to me, to us. I thanked Him for our children. I prayed over them, one-by one. I prayed over my Chris. I prayed over me. I asked Jesus to fill the spaces. I asked Him to make this season count. I prayed that our lives would not be compartmentalized, but completely over-lapping. May our faith in Jesus–our lights–shine for Him today and always.
That’s what I have done so far. Then I came here to write, and it’s only been an hour since drop off. So, as I stare into the rooms of our home, the rooms of my own life, I ask the LORD to decorate, to fill and to use us and our home.
“I, indeed was this and that; but He came, and a marvelous thing happened. Get to the margin where He does everything.”, Oswald Chambers writes. Perhaps the margin is a rarity for nature abhors a vacuüm (the idea that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural as they go against the laws of nature and physics–from Using English dot com). But I believe that if we ask Jesus to fill the spaces with Him, then we will find that even our busy, hurried lives have space every day, an oasis apart. If only we would look for and choose it.
So today, I am laying the foundation for this new season in prayer. I am building it on Christ, my firm foundation, and I am trusting that what He allows for this season will be good things from His hand. He will show me how to proceed–where to say yes and where to say no. I trust Him fully for it all.
Anticipating more of Jesus,
About Holly
LOVE:)
How beautifully you describe your heart and your heart’s desire. i understand your feelings of having the time to yourself. I always loved the beginning of school and the ending. I loved each season of my life with children. I love the empty nest. I love grandchildren, the freedom to love them and care for them and pray for them and then they get to go home with their parents. I love not being responsible for them 24/7. He will fill your spaces and He will give you the wisdom and discernment that you desire for I can read that you are truly seeking His face. May He meet you with each step of the way and speak quietly or loudly, in your ear, “this is the way, walk in it”….You are a blessing…..