As I glanced at the Market Guide resting on the bookcase

my heart did a sad flip.

Right, my dreams to write – my goals to finish that book –

all placed on hold for I have no idea how long.

Tears press behind my eyes as I realize that unless something changes

I won’t be writing very much for a while.

Life has intruded and with it the needs of others take center stage.

I have all that I can do to parent two special girls and work full time

along with caregiving and a zillion other things.

Writing? Well it’s become more a memory of my past then a present occupation.

It’s not the way I want things to be.

It’s not how I anticipated it.

But

there it is

and nothing much I can do about it.

In snippets of time I write a blog or a bit of verse to encourage another

but that’s not the kind of writing I was looking forward to doing.

No, this was going to be the year.

You  know – the year of finally completing that work in progress.

Demands on my time

and drains on my limited energy

trap be in a web that hinders me in doing what my heart, my very soul, longs to do.

Usually I can look ahead to another time in the year

and be encouraged.

But not this time.  No, the time is completely in my Father’s Hands.

So what do you do

when you must be content with limits on your writing?

How do you handle it when the timing you had planned

falls through and you are left faithfully doing other things

labors of love

acts of simple service?

For me, the only thing I know to do

Is to trust.

Yes, to trust the One Who planted within me the desire to write.

To trust His timing when the realization creeps in

that I might never be able to finish what I had set out to do.

Surrender

bathed in salty tears

washes my heart from its own plans

and cleanses my soul to serve in the moment with joy.

So, if for now, my biggest writing

is a simple encouraging comment on another’s Facebook post or blog

or a little note of love and care

that will be enough.

I exchange my time for His Time

and in the doing discover peace.

It’s always that way, isn’t it?