Europe 2014: Life Lessons

The question I get frequently is "Are you ready to come home?" Well, that is a loaded question as Adam and I are in between "homes/houses" and frankly in between our life up till now and whatever comes next.

• Am I ready to see my family? YES!
• Am I ready to see my friends? YES!
• Am I ready to drink tap water? Yes
• Am I ready to use a washer and dryer? Yes
• Am I ready to get back to work? YES!
• Am I ready to cook and bake? Yes
• Am I ready to leave Europe? Yes and no

I was afraid that after a relaxing time away I wouldn't want to go back to work and the mess of life....but what I realized is that...life in America and life in Europe are still life. There are messy parts and amazing, mind blowing parts in both. One of my favorite lines in a movie is in "Letters to Juliet" where Claire iconically says: "life is the messy bits." I have always loved that line, because it is! Life is messy and that's what makes it so good! I'm reading The In-Between by Jeff Goins and it is all about living in the "in-between

" moments of life. The essence of life is not in the major moments like weddings, graduations, and births, but the moments of waiting between these moments.

I can honestly say since we said "I do," Adam and I have been in a series of waiting. Waiting for grad school to end.....waiting for thesis revisions......waiting for test scores......waiting for school acceptance......waiting for rental options to open up......waiting for jobs......waiting, waiting, waiting. At times I have been so tired of waiting and just when we get to our point of exhaustion with waiting.....God calls us to wait longer. At times we have wanted to hurry this system and others thankful for the time, but I look at those waiting moments differently now. We live in a culture where we are always planning for what is next and often miss what is happening now. My time in Europe taught me to stop, wait, and take in the moment. Many of the places and memories we've experienced we will never have again and they are too good to quickly pass by. Life is too good to pass it by and not take in every second.

At the beginning of this trip I was hoping for a revelation, a change, and finally no more waiting......but that's not what happened...not yet anyway. I wish I could say I have everything figured out about where my business is going, when to have kids, or where we will live, whether to rent or to buy.....but the truth is we don't. God is still working in us and through us with each of these major areas.

What we do have figured out is that we are thankful for our life. Thankful that we get to wake up everyday next to each other. Thankful that I get to work with amazing clients and families using music. Thankful that we can pay our bills and work on our debt. Thankful that we have family that miss us and worry about us when we aren't around.

Thankful that we have a God who through the moments of waiting loves us and has provided for us at every turn. What more could we ask for? Nothing....the answer is nothing! This is life, it is messy, and it is exactly where I want to be!

Kristin Noel

 

 

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