Floating in Pea Soup

I can just hear it now:

9 year old: "Teeeee hheeeeeee heeeee"
6 year old: "Mom, you can't say that.  That is potty talk."
3 year old: "Mom, you just said Pee!" (Giggling)

No.  Not floating in pee... although I admit, I've seen plenty of pee where it wasn't supposed to be, but I'm talking about the vegetable pea for just a few minutes.

Why on earth would I blog about this?

Wind your memory back just a week or so ago when the Seattle area was snuggly wrapped up in the thickest layer of fog I can remember.  (For my loyal readers in other locales, just work with me on this.)  This was the kind of fog that wasn't all "majestic as the morning sun filtered through, illuminating the fog as if it were clouds from heaven."  No.  This was the " so thick you wondered if an asteroid hit the earth and the sun was gone forever, I-empathize-with-Triceratops-thick."  It was the "all of the light sensors are still on and the street lights couldn't tell if it was day or night" thick.

Bone chilling damp and cold.

Now, as I'm typing this, I realize that "chilling damp cold" has nothing to do with being in a hot pot of soup....but you know that saying when the fog is "as thick as pea soup?"  Okay, THAT was the connection I was going for.

After day six of solid fog, I finally decided that the fog must be the Ark of the Covenant of God... you know, in the old testament when Moses was leading his peeps through the wilderness out of Egypt... the presence of God hovered above his people to show the way... a cloud during the day and a fire by night.

(I realize so many of you are like, "No, Erin, I don't know" but isn't that GREAT that you got some bible in you today without even having to get off your chair?)

You're Welcome.

No, seriously, it hit me that the fog was such an illustration of my heart.  What do I mean by that?

Well, sometimes we have a period of our lives where things are crystal clear.  Clear as a whistle.  You get my point, right?  I mean, we know where we are at in life, where we are headed and what our target is.  We are driven, we are pushing hard, we are prioritizing, on task, and kickin' some tail.

Then there are times we feel quite the opposite... like we are in the spin cycle of life...getting tossed around and we don't know what side is up.  Man, I hate those times!

But in between the two spectrums, there is that foggy haze that we can sometimes find ourselves in.  No, it's not because we have a head cold, but it's as if we knew where we were headed, and we know where we want to end up but it's those next few steps that we can no longer see the ground.

I don't know about you, but when I have to walk in a space where I cannot see a bloody thing, I am hesitant to take steps.  (Ever had to stumble down the stairs in the pitch dark?)

It is in these times that we have a couple of choices:

1.  We can start running blindly, grasping for whatever we can hold onto...good... or bad.
2.  We can be patient and wait for the fog to lift.  Because eventually, it does.

"I am with you always, even until the end of days."  Matthew 28:20
"I will never leave you, nor forsake you."  Deuteronomy 31:8
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

You see, sometimes things aren't clear, because the road ahead of you needs to be repaired.  You can't walk there yet because God has to work some other things out...sometimes in you...sometimes in others.  And when we wait patiently for that fog to lift... the outcome is ALWAYS BETTER than when we try and force the issue.... race blindly through the fog, running into this or that.  You'll exhaust yourself and likely come out black and blue, quite frankly.

Now don't mistake what I'm laying down here... being in the fog can also be a time that God is asking us to "walk by faith."  I am certainly not encouraging you, if you find yourself in a patchy fog of life, to simply give up and go take a nap until it lifts.  No.

Instead, I'm asking you to be at peace during times of fog.  Know that your Lord will never leave you or forsake you.  Know that he's constantly working in your life.  Stay in the direction you were set to go.... and by faith.... continue your journey even though you don't know where your next step will take you.  That, my friends, is the "foggy" walk of faith.... the "being a pea" in the soup of life.

December was a very, very, very "pea soup" kind of month in my life....and the fog has lifted....and the path is clear.......


and...

You'll have to tune in tomorrow to hear what path was revealed...... but it's a BIGGIE!!!!