Words From the Window SeatSample

I had picked Chicago as my new home because I wanted to start a different kind of life. One I was proud of, where I would take risks and get uncomfortable. I had grown up living outside of a city, with the same opportunities and grocery stores, and I wanted something different. I wanted something big. I wanted to meet lots of new people and experience new things that suburban life couldn’t offer. I was taking big risks and jumping big jumps—doing things that scared me. Living in a closet wasn’t ideal, but I thought about the things I would learn from my new environment and my new city. I thought about the places I could travel to because I was saving so much on rent. Do you know what I realized? I was doing it. I was in Chicago and alive and doing the dang thing. It didn’t look like what I thought it would. But life rarely does, does it?

I think when we sign up and choose to be like Love, it never looks like what we think it will. Saying yes to Love means getting uncomfortable and letting go of trying to control our own world. It means stepping into the beauty of these small, magical moments. Living in a closet was going to be magical to me because I was going to speak that into life. Sometimes we have to remember to do that. We have to speak life and whimsy over our adventures and dreams, even when they feel like they don’t make sense. We have to remember to look at ourselves and say, “You are doing it.” We can be proud even when it looks different from what we thought.

Prayer

God, would you help me let go of the control I place over circumstances that are out of my control. Would you help me celebrate all the life brings, all the adventures that come, and help me look out for the whimsy. Amen.