Reason #909

I find myself playing the ‘what if’ game a lot. What if I had chosen this over that? What if I had lived here instead of there? What if I had made the opposite decision? It’s easy to live in the past, guessing how our lives could be different if only. If only we had known then what we know now.

 

Aaron and I met two years ago today. Truth be told, it wasn’t the most productive meeting, and I left with absolutely no expectations whatsoever. I didn’t expect him to call me, I didn’t expect him to ask me out, and I didn’t expect him to like me. We ate lunch, hardly talked, and he shook my hand goodbye. I figured, if anything, our awkward lunch meeting was a foreshadowing of any type of relationship we might have. Informal, short-lived, and surface level. Clearly, my expectations were not met, and for that I am thankful.

 

Aaron has lived in Lubbock his whole life. I was a couple of years ahead of him in school, and unfortunately I decided I needed to rush through it. Sometimes I find myself thinking, “What if I would have taken my time in college? What if I would have spent another year in junior college finishing up my basics before moving to Tech? What if I would have enjoyed my summers rather than taking summer school?” Because here’s the thing, if I would have taken my time, if I would have waited another year before starting a Tech, and if I would have never taken summer school, I very likely would have met Aaron about 4 years before I actually did.

 

I was in a Christian sorority in college, and after my first year I decided to run for President of the sorority. To my surprise, I actually got the vote. That year was probably the most hectic year of my college career. I way overburdened my schedule between school, church, and my extracurricular activities. I hardly had any down time, since so many things were competing for my attention, that I survived off of animal crackers and diet coke that year as I pretty much lived in my car. There were 4 other girls who were officers with me, and I didn’t have time to micromanage or be a control freak. I let them do their jobs, and I worried about mine. They were an incredible bunch, and we worked well together. Our VP and Chaplain were the two who were responsible for connecting us with the other Christian sororities and fraternities. It was their job to make sure we had community with those groups. There was one fraternity that year, BYX, that decided they were going to branch off and try to connect more with the Greek groups instead. Well, we just let it be and, unfortunately, we never got to connect with that fraternity. Now, I know you are wondering if there is a point to this story, and there is. Aaron’s now brother-in-law was the president of that fraternity the same year I was president of my sorority. And, what’s more is that Aaron had joined that fraternity. What if things had been done differently that year and our groups actually connected? Who knows.

 

Well, as it turns out, the next year my sorority and Aaron’s fraternity decided to connect. I was going to be graduating in December that year, so I ended my time with my sorority. Aaron became the Chaplain of his fraternity, and my sorority “little sis” became an officer. They got to know each well that year. In fact, he got to know a lot of my sorority sisters that year. What if I had stayed? What if I had actually waited a year to go to Tech? That would have kept me in my sorority one year later. If that would have been the case, I would have met Aaron. In fact, I would have known him quite well since we would have both been officers of our group the same year. But as it was, I had moved on to other things in an attempt to rush through a really great time of life. What if I had just taken 4 years like everyone else? What if I had slowed down and waited on the Lord? Who knows.

 

But tonight we relived our first “meeting.” I like to call it that because it wasn’t really a date.  As we sat down for dinner at the local Italian restaurant where we first met, I thought, “Who knew?” Who knew we’d be right back here in two years as Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Davis. Who knew that, after walking down the paths we had taken, we’d find each other along the way? I can tell you who knew. The Lord knew. He knew full well how we’d find each other. Sure, I would love to have the cute story of meeting in college as officers of our sorority and fraternity, but we barely missed each other on that. And I would love for us to have been each other’s date at all of our formals and parties through the years. Really, I would give back my college years in a heartbeat to re-live them  with him as my college sweetheart, but that’s just not how it worked. But who cares, right? Who cares that we had to wait to find one another after college? Who cares that our love story probably got a few extra years thrown in there due to decisions and choices we made along the way? Who cares that it all played out differently than either one of us every imagined? I certainly don’t. Because all I care about is where I am now. And I know for certain that, even though it seemed like we just missed each other, the Lord was faithful to make sure we didn’t. In the end, which is what really matters, He made sure to connect us. And so ‘what if’ doesn’t really matter to the Lord. He can work all things out regardless of the twists and turns we take. Why? Because He knows and He cares. So just let the Lord do His thing. Let Him lead you, let Him shape you, let Him take you on an adventure. You never know where you’ll end up, but you can trust that it’ll be in the very place He has planned for you all along.

 

#909 - For the things He has planned along the way.

 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9