Daily Guidepost

Every morning I start my day with a reading from Daily Guidepost.

Yesterday's was from one of my favorite authors, Julia Attaway. Julia is a stay at home mom in New York City with five children. She home schooled her children for eight years before enrolling them in private schools last year. Her stories I can often relate to. She also writes with a touch of humor.

Julia writes:

"Mom, make my hair extra neat today. Francois is teaching, and he doesn't like messy buns."

I dutifully sprayed on a little more water and twisted Mary's hair a bit tighter. I find it funny that Mary is aware of the preferences of her various ballet teachers. Then again, it's funny that I know anything at all about putting up hair.

Before I had a daughter in ballet I knew nothing about buns. Hair wasn't on my radar; I would have happily gone through life clueless about the subtle distinctions in using bobby pins and elastics. But life with children takes funny turns, and I find myself at middle age with a remarkable amount of knowledge about things I never imagined I'd know.

I know about learning disabilities and cleaning snake cages and organizing reenactments of the Revolutionary War. I can test for a broken bone and distract a nap-deprived toddler during rush hour. I know (sort of) what a vector is, and I've learned an astonishing and heartbreaking amount about anxiety disorders. None of these things were on my list of hoped-for accomplishments in life.

Yet somehow this pile of oddities has a lot to do with who I am today. I've grown more from doing what's plopped in my path than I have from pursuing my own interests. In a way, that's as it should be. I see what I want, but God sees beyond that to what I need. There's a lot that goes into learning how to twist a bun into place.

Lord, whatever I want for myself, help me want what You want for me more.

So much of who we are is not what we planned for ourselves. It's what God planned for us when He created us. We often complain and wonder "why?" Because it's God's plan, and in the end there is a reason why we are where we are.

Like the old saying goes, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."

So what knowledge do you have Internet that God has unexpectedly given you?