Monday, October 18, 2010

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I think I've mentioned my love for children's books before. I love, love, love them! As a former kindergarten teacher...up until this year....I have a love for all things Dr. Seuss. His books are great for teaching rhyming. I read, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!  to my class last week and it really hit home to me. I feel like this one part is my life right now.

*picture courtesy of wikipedia

"You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

                   You can get all hung up
                    in a prickle-ly perch.
                   And your gang will fly on.
                   You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chance are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down those long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place..."

Do you ever feel like your friends have flown on without you? I sure do. Don't get me wrong...I have amazing IRL friends! They have been wonderful during all of this. But, there are many things I don't share with them because unless you've been down this path, you don't get it. I have friends who are done having babies, I have friends that are having second and third babies and I have friends that are just starting their families. What are we doing?? Waiting!

Believe me...none of this has been our plan.  Those bang-ups have happened along the way.  I've also spent my time in a slump and it's no kind of fun! It stinks! I don't like feeling bad. I wish I was stronger. I wish I trusted God so much that I never questioned Him. It's not that I don't trust Him, because I definitely do, but a lot of the time I question Him. It's the control freak in me. :) I know that. I also know that this has been good for me. It stinks, but it's been good. I've learned that life is not about what I want. This life is about what God wants for me. It's about what God wants me to do with this life He's given me.

During all of this, I've decided that while I'm in this "Waiting Place," I'm going to use this time to serve God and to praise Him. Because, I know however our story ends it will be just the way we've always wanted it. Our path to the end will just be different than we planned.

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8 comments:

Angela said...

No friend, It will be even better! And that's because you are waiting on the Lord. His ways are ALWAYS higher and better than ours! I've been thinking of you lately and am praying for you on this journey.

My DH and I were talking the other day about our journey. How being on the other side (kind of) and looking back we can say, "Wow, Look at this crazy path and how God worked it all out." But for the first time I allowed myself to say, "You know, it takes a tough person or the journey toughens you, a person with guts, a person with lots of faith to go thru all the ups and downs of what we've been through." But the end my friend, it beautiful. Not how I thought it would look. Not how it was suppose to happen. But in His will it is so much better! Big Hugs!

A said...

I agree, unslumping yourself is not easily done! ;-) Great post :)

Samantha said...

Thinking of you, dearie. Hang in there. I know some days are hard. Some day it will be a distant memory, I promise.

Browniris said...

Thanks for sharing this! I love this Dr. Suess book, and even though it is sitting on my bookshelf right now, it has been a long time since I have read it. Amazing how much of it relates to IF.

Faith said...

I love, love, love that book! It always almost brings me to tears, for the same reasons you posted it. Those "bang-ups and hang-ups" are so necessary for us to get NOT to our ending, but to our new beginning. Without them, YOUR child wouldn't find his/her way to you. So, while you are feeling stuck in the prickle-ly perch and feel like your gang is flying on, remember this: you are cared about, and you will soon be flying on yourself! And believe me, it will be SO much better than you imagined...I can't wait for you...now, if only we could speed up time for you:). Hang in there, girl!

Jennifer said...

Great post :) xo - praying for you.

Deni said...

Love this post and that book. I'm a children's book junkie myself! I have tons that I used to use for Speech Therapy and then collected even more this summer for our adoption--the book shelf is going to be overflowing!!! And one day there will be a sweet baby who loves books like I do and we'll read and those bumps and slumps will all be worth it! For you and me both!! Sending you love!

Stacey said...

I'm super late reading this post, but wanted to let you know how much I like it. Great job writing it! I'm a huge fan of children's books as well.

I'm excited to follow your journey and see the places that you will go as you follow the Lord! I know He has great things in store. :)

 
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