Lessons from a Porch Swing

What a day!

It began with a walk with a friend around TCU…B’s little head was on a swivel as he watched the cars drive by and people walk by, we noticed the tulips and daffodils blooming, they were beautiful…it was a great way to start the day!

Later, we found ourselves enjoying lunch with some friends. We sat outside, ate and simply enjoyed the day…Texas spring days are incredible…65 degrees + not a cloud in the sky= awesomeness and bliss in my mind!

After lunch, B enjoyed a long afternoon nap which afforded me to opportunity to enjoy the beautiful day even more by reading outside on our precious porch swing.  As I sat on the swing, I found myself being flooded with numerous memories of time spent on the swing, let me explain…

In college, I lived in a little house with three other girls, who quickly became close friends. Our house was small and there really wasn’t a place where C and I to hang out at the house while we were dating. My mom and dad purchased this swing for us as a gift.  With permission from our landlord, some friends helped us install the swing on the house’s front porch. The swing quickly became a favorite spot for C and I (and for my roommates too).  Many conversations were had on the swing…almost every date that C and I had was capped off with a good conversation on the swing (and usually a goodnight kiss too).  There were conversations about the future…about our hopes, about our dreams…about our future family…about life…about a lot.

Upon graduating, our landlord decided to sell the house which sent my roommates and I in several different directions and left the porch swing securely hung in place on the house’s front porch. 

The swing was greatly missed…though C and I were sure to find new places to sit, talk and dream about the future… but really no park bench, front stoop or any other place was ever quite the same as our precious porch swing.

A couple years passed, C and I became engaged and at our rehearsal dinner, we were given a sweet gift.  All three of my former roommates stood up to give a group toast. They each spoke of their individual memories about  C and I and our relationship, they all three compared our relationship to the swing of a porch swing…and after the last spoke,  told us (in front of our family and friends) that they had gone back to the little house and asked the new owner if they could have/purchase the porch swing to give to us as a wedding gift! 

Now the precious swing is hanging on the porch of C’s and my first home…the home that we brought B home from the hospital in.

So today, as I swung I found myself realizing that I am living in that future that C and I once talked and dreamed about on the same swing several years ago. 

The Lord has really been refining and challenging my heart recently in regard to being content. I find myself often overlooking blessings that the Lord has and is providing our family with…I get caught up in the what-ifs of life and don’t always enjoy the here-and-now parts of life.  I did the same thing when C and I were dating and wrestled with contentment wondering what the future might hold and hoping that our dreams of being married and having a family might one day come true .  Today on the swing, I was reminded that the Lord has blessed us and taken care of us so abundantly, leaving me wondering why I choose to worry and struggle with contentment?

Lesson #1: Try to take advantage of beautiful spring days in Texas, you never know how God might use them.

Lesson #2: Slow down enough to realize the simple blessings and gifts that are right in front of me and be content with the here-and-now because God is in control, He has been in the past, He is right now and He will be in the future!