My seven year old is a fishing fanatic. He’s hoping we sell our home in Athens so we can live full-time in our little lake cabin an hour away. School? Nah. Let’s not go anymore. Dad’s job? He can commute.
When I finally got up the nerve to break it to Ben that we would not be moving, he took it in stride and asked if instead he could have a fishing pole at the lake AND at home. You know, just in case we need to fish on short notice. Sure kid. Good plan.
A quick trip to Walmart and $8 later, Ben is the proud owner of a new purple fishing pole. He was sitting at the kitchen table last night, cutting off the excess packaging, when he suddenly hopped up and ran to our junk drawer. Whatcha doing Ben?
He pulled out a red Sharpie. Seven year olds and Sharpies generally don’t mix in our house. No really, what are you doing, Ben?
Look Mom! It’s a sweatband!
Huh. I was missing something. This is all I saw.
One red marker and one tiny rubber band that he had carefully pulled off his fishing rod.
Sometimes in life we have to wait for the plan to fully come into focus. Sometimes there are a lot of floating pieces but we just can’t grasp how they could possibly all come together to make something special. Sometimes we don’t see what others see– or more importantly, what God sees.
So I waited. And trusted my kid alone with a permanent marker.
And 2 minutes later, I was delighted with the results…
A tiny basketball player at the tip of my son’s finger.
And a gentle reminder that sometimes we just have to wait and see how things will unfold.