A couple weeks ago I went to DIYpsi* with a dear friend and came across this adorable 8×8 print of two animated cats snuggling. It said,
This isn’t where I imagined I’d be, but I know it’s where I’m meant to be.
Could anything more accurate be said about mine and Kevin’s lives?
We got married 15 (FIFTEEN!?) years ago with a clear plan: Kevin would go to grad school to complete his PhD in chemistry with the goal of becoming a college professor. I would get some job, possibly at a church (my path was considerably less clear) until he’d finished grad school (about 5 years down the line) at which point we would bring babies into the world.
But that was at least 7 Kevin-and-Mels ago. Since we made that adorable little plan we’ve both finished masters degrees and been ordained; both served as associate pastors and both as lead pastors; he’s been a customer service rep and a business analyst; I’ve been a youth pastor, yoga instructor, piano teacher, marketing manager, church secretary, and worship pastor; we both worked at a summer camp and commuted back to church on the weekends; we’ve both been substitute teachers in elementary, middle, and high school. We’ve endured 5 years of unexplained infertility, 2 failed adoptions, and then experienced the joy of birthing two daughters. We’ve packed up and moved 7 different times and bought 2 houses.
That’s a lot.
In all of this change, every discerning conversation, every prayer uttered, I’m so glad we’ve done it together. I can say with all honesty I am grateful for every single experience, every lesson learned.
So I guess this reflection is all about gratitude.
And also I am SO FREAKING GRATEFUL for this life we’re now living. It’s not where I imagined I’d be, but I know deep in my bones it’s where I’m supposed to be. What a gift to be a 5th grade teacher at the school 5 blocks from my house in a state willing to offer me an alternative route to teacher certification and with an administration willing to take a chance on me. What a gift for Kevin to be working fully remote for our church denomination making sense of spreadsheet after spreadsheet of information (and able to cook us dinner most every weeknight). What a gift to have a 2nd grade daughter who is overflowing with leadership skills and ideation and confidence, and a Kindergartener who is cunningly playful and inquisitive and sensitive. What a gift to be pastoring a house church within the beautiful network of Evergreen Church and to be raising our kids to know how Jesus’ Church is to care for one another and the world around us.
It is a wonderful feeling to know we’ve finally found our “thing:” we are called to live hyper-locally in order to join God in the renewal of all things. We are committed to our neighborhood, to living and working and playing (and going to the doctor and dentist and and library coffee shops) within a walking radius of our house. We are called to radical hospitality, to filling our neighbor’s table with actual neighbor’s and creating a space where everyone feels safe and loved and at peace.
It is good to reflect with gratitude on where we’ve been and where we’re going staying. Thanks be to God.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.
Psalm 16:6
*DIYpsi is the coolest craft show ever. Imagine a church-lady craft show meeting up with Indie art fair and a bunch of social justice/environmental activist/naturalist/progressives and produced this fantastic biannual event…that I can WALK TO from my house. What even is in this life?! So good.
