Order Our Steps

An education, job, marriage, and children should idealistically happen in that order, right? Preconceived ideas of how certain things should happen in life, stir in each of our heads. We have our own ideas where things should fall into place or stay, Well, what happens when they are out of order, disheveled, and don't happen as we think they should? We become disappointed, disillusioned, discombobulated... the feeling is that of failure; nothing is going right, so you're destined for condemnation and disaster? All of this may sound over the top, but some of us are very passionate about order, structure and sequence in our lives.

"I'm a living witness to all of this!" It was evident to me, when I became an adult and had a family. To my dismay, things were initially out of order! I had what we now call a 'blended family'. Basically mine, yours, and ours... a beautiful mixture and combination. In our home the motto was 'A place for everything and everything in its place', and believe me I took that to another level. My youngest son recently reminded me of this very thing. I felt that having seven people in a household at any given time MUST have order and organization. And not just at that time, I even had each kid's future planned. Whew!! But guess what - my life was in shambles and unbeknownst to me, I made us all miserable!
You see, I've learned that a lot of what we become and do in life stems from how we were raised. At an early age, I was labeled as 'the one who can', the one who would make a difference. Therefore, I felt that I needed to live up to what was expected of me.  I thought in every aspect of my life, I needed perfection; I had something to prove... but to whom?
My peers? My family? My friends? Myself?
No! I had nothing to prove, or please anybody but my God! He wants us to put Him first and acknowledge Him in all our doings. He wants us to seek Him first (Matthew 6: 33). When I truly internalized His order of my steps, I was as peace with me.

I've also learned that it is great to set personal goals and ambitions. What enhances it all is when you have encouragement from family, friends and mentors who truly have your well-being at heart.
As I look back over my young adult life, I should have adopted the motto, 'A place for Him and all else would be in order'. "He is not finished with me yet."

Blessings,
PJ Payne