I started a post on Sunday.   It didn’t feel right.  The post seemed to be the same old, same old from Milly. A big fat yawn!  My writing bored me.  I stopped, took a breath and figured out I needed to adapt.

Adapt* (verb):

• Change to meet requirements
• Adjust to something new

Adaption is a part of our journeys.  We want to branch out and see where God leads us.  Journeys are exciting.  We want to go to new places, or meet people, improve our homes and lives, or save our souls.

Journeys encourage us to adapt.  I spent years daydreaming about what I could do with my life.  If only…  I lived stories in my head but didn’t write the book.  I made grand plans but didn’t follow up with action.  You know what I’m talking about.  What holds us back?

When I looked at what held me back I found fear, doubt, physical limitations, distractions, crises, and plain old habits.  Habits are great if they keep you moving on your path.  They are not so great when you stay stuck in one place.

“You are stuck in a rut!”  My mother says when I am stagnating.  She’s right.  When my car gets bogged down in a wet muddy rut, I’m not moving forward or backward.  I need to change what I’m doing.

After writing that boring post I thought, I need to adapt.  I am falling into my old habits of being consumed by crisis after crisis.  I want to do my stuff.  After tackling tasks all day, I am weary.  It makes it hard to write at the end of the day.

Looking back over the week, I saw how my schedule has changed and my old writing habits are not working.  I had not prayed over my writing or looked for the gems God gave me during the week.  After a moment of chagrin, I asked, “What do I share this week?”  I felt He expected more from me.  “Lord, how do I do this?”

Analyze and adapt came to my mind.  I found this message backed up by two conversations this weekend on how humans are the most adaptable creatures on the planet.  It made me think, we don’t use this adaptability to our advantage often enough.

I’ve faced facts.  We are working on building the Mountain Home.  The Buried Secrets revisions are going slow but steady.  I am excited about taking on November’s NaNoWriMo challenge and writing Targeted.  I have changed my work schedule to four nine-hour days with a half-day on Fridays.  My sleep schedule is a mess.  I added two 12-step meetings to a tight schedule.  We are clearing out our house, making repairs, and sprucing up our Florida Home.  Most important, I want to continue my growth with the Lord.

A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 16:9 [NKJV]

Here’s the plan of my heart.  First, I keep hearing the call to rest in the Lord.  This makes prayer and sleep schedules the priority.  In prayer I realized, it is easier for me to write blog posts during the week.  I will switch my weekly blog post to Wednesday/Thursday and see how it goes.  This leaves the weekends as golden opportunities for writing books.  For me, the weekends are a key component in completing those writing challenges.  Most of the family is just too busy to notice when I steal away {hee hee}.

Whew!  For me alone all of this is impossible.  Yet, I know with my Shepherd it is possible.  I have confidence that with a good master list; the rest will fall into place as the Lord continues to direct my steps in the journey.

I will trust Him, change to meet His requirements, and adjust to something new.  To put it all in three words:  I will adapt.

Peace be with you on your walk today,

Milly

P.S.  In the New King James Version, Proverbs Chapter 16’s title is “Wisdom is Better than Gold.”  How cool is that?  I need to read the whole chapter again and digest the wisdom.  Let me know in the comments what you think of Proverbs Chapter 16.

*Definition is from the Encarta Dictionary: English (North America)