Ten Years from Now

Paul, LG and I were cruising in the mom bomb as we so affectionately call it. Something came up and it had happened ten years ago. I asked Paul, "Ten years ago did you think you would be married to me, have a daughter and living in the 'ville while I trained to be a preacher." He laughed and said I was pretty sure I would marry you and that's about it. This seemingly random conversation that filled the space between the gas station and home of course got me thinking. If someone told me ten years ago that I would someday be training to be a pastor I would have laughed at them, maybe even a hardy belly laugh bringing tears to my eyes. I could have given a list of reasons why I would never be a pastor. That really though is when the journey started because I was also just going back to school to finish my BA. If you told me I would live in KY I would have laughed even harder maybe fallen over. Ten years ago I had very little clue where I would be today.

I dreamed for a long time that at this point in my life I would be married with three kids, own a home on a huge piece of property, a fancy car and have a powerhouse job in NYC media. Maybe even a helicopter to commute in, if I went really crazy dreaming. Those were my life goals by 30, which has come and gone. My goals now are completely different. I have to wonder will they be laughable in ten years? Maybe not and maybe so. I am no longer dreaming with childlike imagination, it's a more grown up imagination that has faced reality. Although there is still a whole lot of imagination that happens inside this big 'ole head of mine.

So our next conversation naturally was about ten years from now. What will be surprised about, what do we expect? Well we agreed that there will probably be more children in the mom bomb. We have no idea where we will be living or what our jobs will be. We live in a state of transition for at least another two years. I still have dreams they look different now, a great education for LG, time spend living in Uganda getting my hands dirty, writing that isn't self published, maybe a PhD, a brother or sister or two for LG, family vacations. The dream that is the equivalent of the helicopter one above would be getting to go around talking to women about a new vision of what it means to be a Christian family, but I would have to write the book first. Or how about living off the grid eating all natural and organic foods? Maybe living in community? I have always dreamed of living on a farm. I am up in the air about home ownership these days, as I slowly learn to value material things less and less I feel like owning a home would make me want more and more. I hope in ten years I have found the balance of my materialism and my desire to live simply.

Who knows what we will laugh about in ten years or what it is we aren't expecting?

Today I am grateful for all that has happened in the last ten years and all that is to come.
May you be blessed in your next ten years.