Vancouver, Canada
Here we are in Vancouver, Canada!!! Sunday PM we slept in Miles City, Montana. I stayed up late waiting for clothes to dry. In North Dakota we boarded the Amtrak and I finally had a chance to sit awhile. I have three cases from work that I need/want to get done before I get home, and I had a chance to get two of them done that day on the train. The fun part of the train was the little sleeper car that my daughter and I shared, the "all-included food" (oh my!!!), and the game of Monopoly (I lost). I did see two antelope, but didn't see a bear. We boarded the train about 9 AM Tuesday, in North Dakota and arrived in Seattle, WA about 10 AM the next day. We then took a bus up to Vancouver, Canada. The boarder patrol man looked pretty grim and serious as he quizzed us about our travels, but had a smile for us after we answered all of his questions.
Canada has been interesting. They spell some words in a silly way, there are "wash rooms" instead of bathrooms, and you put "fuel" in your car instead of gas. Tomorrow we have to get up super-duper-killer early to get back on our bus to then get on our train to then get back to California. Once back in California, my birth mother and two half brothers are coming to spend three days and two nights at our home. Will the house be ready? Oh well, who cares? Whatever needs to be done when I get home, or whatever, we'll just deal with it.
Regarding my daughter and I, we are getting along well. So much I could say. I'll just summerize by saying, she is very much her own person and independent, but when we sit across from each other over the restaurant tables, I see the face with those big blue eyes and softened freckles, the naturally thin eyebrows and gentle anxiety and subtle unpredictable impulsivity and I melt as she sits there singing the song to herself, "I don't want to be angry anymore."
You know, the other day - we were walking in Yellowstone, and I made a comment something about some people being unpredictable and it is hard to know what it is they want and she said, "Yeah - that's what I don't like about God -- and parents." Wow. I saw into her thinking in that flash. I recalled about how, for years, has been trying to grapple with the fact that she can not control God and that He is not going to bow down and serve her.
My daughter had been a fervant Christian for many years as a youth, and then fell away from God. She has not completely fallen away, and He has continued to be with her, but it is like He is waiting there saying, "Have you figured out yet that I am not going to change for you? You are going to have to change for me, or you won't be able to approach me or know me unless you realize there is only one way to approach me, and that is humbly."
Sounds like me. God saved me several months after I was married, and He kept me in a difficult marriage for many, many years, not to change anyone else so much as to change ME (imagine!!!). After ten years of being mad at God for not "fixing" my husband I just got sick and tired of my attitude and said to God one day, "I am so sorry for having a bad attitide. I don't want to have a bad attitude anymore."
Similarly, God is continuing to work in my daughter's life, in my husband's life and in the lives of our three other children as well as in my life, because that is the way God is -hopelessly devoted to us. (Remember that song, "Hopelessly Devoted to You?" (from the Greese movie?)
Canada has been interesting. They spell some words in a silly way, there are "wash rooms" instead of bathrooms, and you put "fuel" in your car instead of gas. Tomorrow we have to get up super-duper-killer early to get back on our bus to then get on our train to then get back to California. Once back in California, my birth mother and two half brothers are coming to spend three days and two nights at our home. Will the house be ready? Oh well, who cares? Whatever needs to be done when I get home, or whatever, we'll just deal with it.
Regarding my daughter and I, we are getting along well. So much I could say. I'll just summerize by saying, she is very much her own person and independent, but when we sit across from each other over the restaurant tables, I see the face with those big blue eyes and softened freckles, the naturally thin eyebrows and gentle anxiety and subtle unpredictable impulsivity and I melt as she sits there singing the song to herself, "I don't want to be angry anymore."
You know, the other day - we were walking in Yellowstone, and I made a comment something about some people being unpredictable and it is hard to know what it is they want and she said, "Yeah - that's what I don't like about God -- and parents." Wow. I saw into her thinking in that flash. I recalled about how, for years, has been trying to grapple with the fact that she can not control God and that He is not going to bow down and serve her.
My daughter had been a fervant Christian for many years as a youth, and then fell away from God. She has not completely fallen away, and He has continued to be with her, but it is like He is waiting there saying, "Have you figured out yet that I am not going to change for you? You are going to have to change for me, or you won't be able to approach me or know me unless you realize there is only one way to approach me, and that is humbly."
Sounds like me. God saved me several months after I was married, and He kept me in a difficult marriage for many, many years, not to change anyone else so much as to change ME (imagine!!!). After ten years of being mad at God for not "fixing" my husband I just got sick and tired of my attitude and said to God one day, "I am so sorry for having a bad attitide. I don't want to have a bad attitude anymore."
Similarly, God is continuing to work in my daughter's life, in my husband's life and in the lives of our three other children as well as in my life, because that is the way God is -hopelessly devoted to us. (Remember that song, "Hopelessly Devoted to You?" (from the Greese movie?)
posted by An Ordinary Christian | 7:10 PM
1 Comments:
I love this post, there is so much wisdom in it. I too, for a long time prayed that God would change the hearts of the people around me till a light bulb went off in my head that said 'pray for yourself, that God would enable you to accept the behavior of those around you'. Of course it is always good to pray for those we love, but sometimes we need to look inside our selves and ask for a changed heart... a heart of acceptance.
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