Irreplaceable

I recently read a book called "Captivating" (John & Staci Eldridge). It is an amazing book about the heart of a woman. Pick it up- you won't be sorry!

Anyway, in the book they talk about the things that women need in their lives. One thing we need in our lives is to be "an irreplaceable part of a grand adventure". Doesn't that just get your heart beating?? I love the idea of an adventure, and then to the an IRREPLACEABLE part of that adventure...... wow! For me, that is the key... the irreplaceable part.

When you are single there are many adventures. Every new guy you meet could be "the One", friends are finding their ways and by proxy we experience these adventures with them by being in their weddings, attending showers, gettting pictures of thier kids in the mail. Amazing fun stuff like that. My life has been so full of adventures. I have Great friends, family that I love and just enough drama to keep my friends entertained at parties!

Even with all that though, something is always missing. I always have to say goodbye at the end of the night. I leave friend's homes full of joy but empty-handed, after each event, I get into my cold car and drive home. I never get to take those adventures home with me. These are not my adventures, I am just walking alongside- or am I??

If you have been reading this since the beginning you will know that I had a really bad few months rom May-Oct. You can go back and read some of the first entries to really get an idea. But to summarize, I was a little mad at God. I felt as though I had nothing solid in my life to rejoice in. I had no grand adventure, no men, no big events to look forward to, and to top it off, I didn't like going to work everyday. I felt justified in being mad at God because I felt as though I had done everything that He had asked me to, there was nothing in the way of His plan for my life. There were no obvious obstacles. I was completely free to follow whatever course He wanted my life to take- I was waiting for the beginning of MY grand adventure - but there was silence.

So I felt like He had left me in the desert to whither away. I often thought to myself, if this is going to be the way my life is going to be day-in, day-out I don't want it. I don't want to live until I am 90 if this is how it is going to be.

Gradually though, God has been wooing me, taking care of me, and I am seeing the results everyday. Now I have different lenses to see the world through!

As I thought more and more about Adventures, I realized that my whole assumption might be wrong. So often we thing of God's will for our lives -or the Grand Adventure- as being one path that spans a lifetime. Those of us who didn't pop out of the womb knowing that we wanted to be Doctors or Lawyers or Garbagemen often question when. When will MY grand adventure begin. Especially single women, we wait for that man to enter our lives so that the adventure can begin.

I have realize though, that adventures are not long-term. Anyone who has ever watched Dora the Explorer know you can have a really cool adventure in 30 minutes and still have room for commericals! Adventures vary in lenght. I have begun to realize that even with goal setting and long-term plans that there are still seasons and stages and so doesn't it make sense that our lives would be made up of many Adventures?? Long, medium and short term??

As I thought of that, I took a moment to let the paradym shift in my mind and then tackled the question from a different angle. Instead of asking "when does my adventure start?" I made the assumption that my presence in people's lives had the same irreplaceable part as they had in my life.

I realized that adventure is all around me and that I hold an irreplaceable part in many adventures.. I am the ONLY daughter my parents will ever have- irreplaceable. I am the best Auntie Laura Mac & Sam will ever know. There are other Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents but I am the only Auntie Laura. I met Mac within an hour of her birth- irreplaceable.
I am the first person my new roommate met when she came to Ottawa-irreplaceable.

And of course.... I am God's creation and design He made me Irreplaceable.