So I am a little late with this post, but I guess I really wasn’t feeling it till now.  So October 15th was our sixth month “moveaversary”. Sixth months of new weather, people, church, town and really just about everything.  It is a blessing though that our jobs are the same, and those connections have done a lot to keep me sane.  

Why did I wait so long to make this post?  Well, to be honest, I was having a hard time dealing with it.  We are physically settled, but we are still working on developing our life here.  And in many ways that sucks!  Not the being here, but that unbalanced feeling of still working out what life is going to look like.  

I remember going into Starbucks before we left home, and being greeted by the son of one of my friends. The easy familiarity of his greeting made me both happy and sad.  Happy in that way you feel when you are known, but sad because I knew it would be a long time before someone would greet me like that again.  When I went over to our new Starbucks for my free birthday drink, there was no loud greeting or wave. There was just a very nice woman doing her job, but none of the special joy of seeing someone with whom you have a shared history.  

Well, as with most funk’s, I am happy to say that I’ve passed through it, or at least most of it for now.  It always helps to have some perspective, and it only took a walk and some geese to help me gain it.  

You see, I was taking my normal walk down a trail that runs through the neighborhood. There is a museum, some old buildings, a wooded area and a small windmill along my route.  Our weather was going to turn a bit rough in the afternoon, so while I was out for my walk I kept my eye out for opportunities to take some pictures.  I loved the clouds that were filling the sky, but as I walked, I was really thinking about how I would love to get some geese in a picture.  A few days before, some had flown by where I was walking and it was just lovely.  I purposely didn’t take a picture and just enjoyed their flight across the sky.  Today though, I was on a mission to snap a picture if the opportunity presented itself.  I will admit, I shot up a quick prayer asking for the geese.  God in His wisdom gave me something I wanted, but for His own good purposes.  When I got to the windmill, I lined up my shot and took the picture.  It was exactly what I wanted, but then I heard the geese.  As I went back to line up for the same shot, I couldn’t see the geese on my screen.  I started moving the phone, trying to find the geese in the sky, and I took a number of pictures trying to get both the geese and the windmill all in one.  The problem  was when I finally looked at the pictures, I had a couple with the  geese flying though the clouds, and the one shot that was perfectly set up with the windmill.  None of the pictures had it all.  

When I thought about it later, I realized that when I heard the geese I took my eyes off the big picture.  That was the composition of the windmill that I liked so much.  Instead of keeping steady and my focus on what I already had, I started searching for what I didn’t.  Instead of waiting patiently for the geese to come into my shot, I tried to make it happen on my own.  And when I did that, it didn’t work out so well. 

 It reminded me of life right now.  I took my eyes off the big picture of my life, and focused on a detail.  And that detail took on a greater importance than it should have.  I took my eyes from the blessings God has given me and how He has brought me this far.  My focus zeroed in on my desire to have my life all settled in my new surroundings, instead of on the One who will guide me there.   That loss of focus brought me sadness and stress, but I am grateful to have some of that focus back.  

So when I forget again, because we all do, I will have two pictures to remind me where my focus belongs. And I will dream of the day when memories and shared experiences are as much a part of my life with my new community as it was with my old.