new roads...

I often sing about seasons and wordy visuals. I often write about colors and lessons I've learned.
When I step back, all the little things that don't make sense to me when I look at them individualistically, come together. They build something. Something grand. And each moment of each day is part of it. I'm learning that when I least understand what is going on is when the Lord knows what is happening. And when I understand, or claim to understand, is when He still knows what is happening. In spite of who I am and how lost I seem to be on the road, He has a plan. His plan not only involves picking up the pieces of my life that I've broken somehow, but it involves restoring them. Each and every fragment of my imaginative confusion that I call a day, is being shaped into something beautiful. Restoration is a beautifully consistent word. Every time it crosses my mind I'm reminded of how I'm being restored through grace.
Two weeks ago Ash and myself pulled up to the curb of our friends house. We were intending to go to the weekly, sunday night meeting with our church group. But, as life often changes, our road didn't end at the curb that evening. In that moment of discussion, Ash needed to talk. I needed to listen. We needed to drive. So we drove. My Kia pulled us down roads that we've never been down. Not only were we conversing over new topics and sharing hearts but we were experiencing newness. New roads. New moments. New us. It was remarkable. Not remarkable like a fantastic sports play, or a shiny new car; but remarkable like a wise word that sinks deep into your mind and grows to maturity. I love those moments. The kind where the bulk of the awe isn't formed by what pieces are at hand, but by the full restorative wholeness that is being built. Faith, love, and hope assembling. I'm coming back to the point where these moments are visible. For a while I lost sight of them. But these moments of grace make sense to me in a way that the setting sun makes sense to the stars. New roads are scary sometimes. But I love them.