Seasons of Growth

The more things that are happening in my life, the more reluctant I am to write about them. There's so much potential in the air right now! While I would in no way wish to trivialize the painful circumstances so many have faced during the current recession, our reality has been a season of growth and opportunity. Patience, economizing, and hard work are always a good policy. They are persistently successful, in good times and bad.

It's been so hard to learn to be patient financially. When you leave home, you think you'll be enjoying the lifestyle you were accustomed to in your parents' house in no time at all. But how old were they when they reached that point of fiscal comfort? How many years did they rely on the help of others? Did you watch them lose everything again? Do you know anyone who bought a home without any help from family, through cosigning, loans, or inheritance? Do you remember years that you lived without insurance? Times when groceries showed up on the front porch and your mother breathed a prayer of thanks?

My children will not remember the earliest hardships. The youngest will have only vague memories of living in a rented house. They have no idea how much help we received from family. They know only full bellies and warm beds, iPads and bicycles, bowling leagues and music lessons, throwing out clothes because they don't like them anymore with no concern for where more will come from.

I wonder how they will adjust when they leave home. I often consider what the best ways to help them will be. Then I remember how silly it is to worry. Some of the best years of our lives have been the ones in which we struggled. The adventures we've had and the people we've become have been shaped by the hard years. They allow us to appreciate this season of potential in a deeper way. They allow us to live in contentment, even as we press on toward the big dreams. The ones we couldn't see a way to in the beginning, but dreamed nonetheless.

How good life is!