| Sunny Side Up Feb. 8, 2006 �2006, Kathleen Gibson Planning for 'Divine Best' When our first grandchild was born last April, I decided to take a 'grandmaternity leave.' A year away from writing full-time to watch Benjamin grow. To do grandmotherly things. Make family meals again. Bake cookies. Spend time with my daughter, watching her evolution from wife to Mama. Take my grandbaby for walks. Learn to speak 'child' again. I'd keep writing this column, I decided, but I wouldn't take on large projects. No speaking engagements or traveling. I'd stay close to home, family, and church. So in the last ten months I've watched a miracle grow. When he falls asleep in my arms, his cheeks flush with my shared warmth, and suddenly the tilted universe sets itself aright. When he giggles at my antics, or on waking, arranges his smile just so, no accomplishment could fulfill me more. I call him my little 'happy pill.' I've also taken time to re-assert general order in my neglected 'empty nest'. Held a garage sale. Baked Christmas goodies for the first time in years. Re-glued my dining chairs. Had reams of company. Cooked more often for the resident Preacher. Published a tiny book. But I also accomplished something not on my list. After a nightmare in which I couldn't pour myself into a favorite pair of slacks, I woke in a cold sweat. Tried on two skirts I'd left hanging in our off-season closet. Neither one would zip. "Must be the cookies," I complained to the air. To the skirts. To the Preacher. He ignored me for a while then said, "I know what the problem is. You hung those skirts in the wrong closet." "What d'ya mean?" squeaked I. (It's hard to speak normally when your belly button is sucked flat against your backbone.) The Preacher's a uniformed officer with Sea Cadets, which don't meet in summer. He grinned. "It shrinks stuff. Every summer, it shrinks my uniform." But I know the truth. "I've been eating too much. Guess why?" "Because you're not writing enough." I hate it when he has me all figured out. Especially when he figures out my figure before I figure it out myself. A good indicator that you're operating within God's 'Divine Best' for your life is this: you don't live with a persistent nagging feeling you should be doing something else. For now, writing is that for me - food is my niggardly substitute. So in the next few months I'll spend more time at my desk. Deadlines are looming, writing and speaking commitments I'm eager to meet with excellence. I'm asking God to help me balance the privileges and responsibilities he's given me - including grandparenting. (I'm also asking him to keep cookies far from me!) Home and family are irreplaceable gifts from God. So are our unique callings and abilities. Staying in tune with God's divine balance of days requires prayer, self discipline, and concrete planning, but the result is a wise heart. I want that, don't you? So�what's your Divine Best? And what's your plan? Respond Home |
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