Over the years I have held a number of paid and unpaid job positions. A strange variety of titles and responsibilities have molded and transformed me into the person I am today.
In the early years of high school I was a nanny to three delightful Danish boys. Every summer morning found me pedaling my bicycle to a job I really enjoyed.
I also endured a typical teenage rite of passage by working in the food service industry. My first such job had me wearing a Mary Poppins type of costume while scooping ice cream and scraping out quarter tips left in the bottom of melted pools of stickiness.
Next, came dreams of grandeur as a retail sales clerk. This was a fashionably dangerous position that left me well dressed, but broke, most of the time.
I then found a worth while position that truly made a difference. Never before or since have I worked so hard as when I entered into the field of stay at home mom. To make ends meet I also ran a licensed day care facility in my home. I get exhausted just thinking about it.
My life continued to change with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Most of the positions I had obtained gave no deep thought as to how I had arrived at such a job. Soon came a five year stint as a medical insurance specialist. I was thankful to have the job, but my spirit quietly suffered. The only beauty appeared in the form of long lasting friendships which were bonded under bad conditions.
Alas a prince did come and he whisked me away to a foreign island. It was there I became a student of the world and a homeschooling teacher to one. This was a tough but tender experience that now is a happy reflection in time.
From there we continued on our European adventure and I once again fell into a profession~ as a tour planner/guide for the U.S.O. My world exploded in a stream of beauty and experiences that I had never knew existed. We lived in a charming village and my neighbor Jean, an interior designer, opened a door I had never dreamed about knocking on.
Upon our return to the states I was happily again a stay at home mom who took courses in real estate staging and redesign as there was no university located nearby in which I could study interior design. I opened a staging and redesign business and saw it thrive in a short amount of time.
Another move across the country had me close that business and reopen another. A chance for formal education presented itself. For the first time in my life I was making well planned decisions about my career. As I grew closer to graduating I saw a once blossoming design industry take a hard hit in an ever continuing recession. How could this be? To have struggled and fought for so long in trying to realize who I thought I should be, only to have those dreams dashed, is a humbling experience.
So I prayed. I tried to make lists of what really mattered. Important things quickly rose to the top. Other, once important, aspirations fell swiftly to the bottom. Stopping for quiet reflection has brought about powerful knowledge. It often does when we stop to really listen to soulful whisperings.
During such quiet moments I have found that all of my past professions, which I thought had nothing to do with one another, have created a tapestry of experience woven thoughtfully and lovingly by my Heaven Father. Each job has been a building block used to create the path upon which I currently stand. I am thankful to God for the possibility of a metamorphosis so beautiful that I cannot even fathom to see all that my future holds.
It is up to us to be open to experience a path set before us that we never knew we were capable of walking. No task is ever set before us that we cannot handle. This is a rich promise I know to be true. Beauty often emerges when we least expect it.
I am embarking on a new path filled with beauty and opportunity. I am thankful for the journey unfolding in front of me. Soon I will be sharing with you the direction life is taking me.
Here is yet another clue, number 4, for the Grandest Giveaway in Decor To Adore history which will be revealed on October 1st.
I currently feel a bit like a newly emerged butterfly flitting about between the responsibilities of home, family, school and career. But I would love to hear if you have ever found yourself at an unexpected crossroad and discovered a blossoming like no other.
Laura
