If Everyone Was Jumping Off A Cliff...

Didja know y'all are the coolest people in the world...as least in my world. Thanks for laughing with me and my attempt at writing in vernacular.  If I told y'all how much time I put in on that post, you'd think I had lost my mind...and you'd be right!

(If you didn't think I was throwed off before...trust me...you may after reading this post!)

I want to share a dream I had earlier in the week, but before I do I'd like to say I believe God speaks to all of us daily and the way in which He chooses can be different each time, but it's up to us to pay attention and listen. This week I truly believe He chose to give me instructions while I was asleep...maybe so I wouldn't have a chance to  interrupt Him.

I dreamt I was going up a steep, twisting mountain road while riding a tricycle. Suddenly I came to a narrowing in the rocky path where all my wheels couldn't pass safely.  Trying to navigate the narrow road and maneuver a U-turn, I pulled forward until my front tire was just almost off the incline, but not enough for a turn around.  I then swung back with my rear tires, but again found myself unable to turn around without going over the edge.

(Think about trying to get out of a tight parallel parking space and you'll get the general idea!)

 I continued to do this back and forth, semi-circle, tricycular cha-cha repeatedly, getting more and more frustrated and getting no where fast.

As the gravel under my wheels became more rutted from my frantic tries at this forward/reverse exercise in futility, feeling trapped, and sobbing uncontrollably, a voice suddenly spoke loudly saying...

"STAND UP"!

  Whaaa...I can do that?  

As I cautiously stood, peering over the rocky precipice into the abyss below, it occurred to me all I had to do was pick the trike up, turn it around and proceed back down.

WELL DUH!!!

Why had I taken a simple act of common sense and turned it into a epic melodrama of monumental proportions rivaling only that of Wile E. Coyote?

The next morning, this dream was still fresh on my mind...every detail vivid.  That isn't always the case with my dreams, but I believe God was talking to me...(not my subconscious y'all)...God!

Sitting quietly in the first morning light, praying for an answer, I read Debra's latest post and there...it...was.

(I repeat...God talks to us in many ways and chooses people in our lives for that purpose.  Debra is blessed with the ability to share God's word and thankfully always in a way I understand.)<p>

  In everything I do, I tend to get sidetracked, sometimes choosing the wrong fork in the road, sometimes completely straying off the path only to end up in poison ivy.  Sadly...when it comes to making some life choices...Daniel Boone I'm not!

Being easily distracted...(think squirrel)...I start things, but never finish them, but will then proceed to start something else that catches my eye or imagination; running back and forth, back and forth with nothing to show at night's fall.  Unfinished projects, half-decorated rooms, paint color chips scattered about like confetti, and my ta-da lists piling around me until finally...I am overwhelmed and don't know where to even begin digging out.  To fully understand what the problem was, all I had to do was look at my office to see...it's ME!  Seemingly, it looked like I had it together

BUT...

...by looking at the complete picture...clearly I did not!

I tend to look at life as the glass half-full, but my life was actually half-baked!

  (I can't believe I'm showing y'all this.  What would I do if anyone were to actually show up at my door unannounced?  Knock knock...hello...there's a light on, but no one's home!)

I have to take my rose colored glasses off and instead take a hard, painful look at myself.  I have to define my faults and start working on changes within myself.  I have to find what works for me instead of against me.  I can no longer be my own worst enemy and enabler.  While I will still continue to view life as a half-full glass, hopefully I no longer will go off into life half-cocked.

No longer will I continue to allow myself to make mountains out of molehills while drowning in chaos, but rather start thinking about what I am actually capable of committing to and finishing.  I have to set realistic goals and not fret about what others are able to accomplish and I'm not.  Mainly...I've got to stop letting shiny objects detract me from being the total woman that God wants me to be (not what I think the world expects me to be) and start staying focused on His word and His plan for me...just me.  He has a plan and a path for all, but yours may not be mine.  I can't follow yours or it will be boulders, jagged cliffs, and no U-turns all the way up.  In all choices, small or large, trying to follow the wrong path is never smooth, but inevitably full of potholes.

I have to be willing to change and for me...that won't be easy.  I have to have faith God isn't sending me back down the road as punishment, but rather as a do-over...a second chance to get it right...His way!  Sometimes to get the top...we have to start at the bottom again...learning from the mistakes made on the first attempt uphill.  Who knows...I may be like Jill and come tumbling down again, but for now y'all...

I'M STANDING UP!

It may take me a little while, but...

I'll see y'all at the top of the hill.

Look for me willya?

I'll be the one smiling...holding a pail of water...sitting on the tricycle!

BEEP BEEP!

(I'm linking to Rebecca's Studio Sunday.)