What to Do in the Meantime

Find the light.

I usually wait until the end of my thought processes for the big reveal, but today I felt the urge to start with the big finisher: Find the light.

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“Ms. Tia likes Minnie Mouse!” my youngest girl exclaimed as her first words to me one morning. She was so excited to tell me. It was as if the thought had been marinating on her mind overnight, and she could not wait to share. She and her teacher both like Minnie Mouse. What a wonderful revelation!

As I mulled over my second installation in a series on light inspired by Ninth & L U X, I began to recognize that many of us can learn from Mya. We can learn to celebrate when we find light.

Some of us are experiencing incredible highs. Others are experiencing incredible lows. Most of us are somewhere in between. We are ready for the highs. We are avoiding and hoping to pray away the lows, but we are living in the middle.

Oftentimes, we do not know what to do in the meantime.  We do not know what to do while we wait…for that big promotion, for that big break through, for that answered prayer we know is coming.  The answer is as simple as a teacher who shares a 4-year old’s love for Minnie Mouse.  Find the light.

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Steven Furtick has a wonderful message entitled, “In the Middle.”  He unwraps how people spend their lives trying to reach a certain point in their journey.  I will not try to elaborate on what he has already so eloquently stated, but I will relate that he reminds us that the message is in the middle.

You see, I was convinced that light comes when I have learned to successfully manage a classroom of low-performing students, when I mastered the routines, when my house is finally beautiful enough for Facebook.  I was waiting to see the light of well behaved children, of large social media followings with lots of likes, with viral blog posts.  I needed the light of state championship track teams, and through the roof state test scores, and a bank account that allowed me to shop until my heart was content.

Imagine my shock when that still, small Voice whispered in my ear, “Brittany, the Light is in the middle.”

The Light is in the middle.  The Light is in the meantime.  Find the Light.

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The light is the student that once gave me the blues now making a special trip to my classroom to say “hello” every day.  The light is a special gift from one of the seniors on the track team.  The light is my husband encouraging me to meet up with other moms once a month for a kid free night to relax.  The light is the love I have for the people I work with on a daily basis during the school day and at track practice.  The light is when my observer comes in on a day where I have no dog and pony show to give, and I realize that what I do day to day is enough.  The light is watching my distance runner smash through her mental barrier.  The light is going to de-clutter again and realizing the piles are not nearly as bad as I remembered.

The light is winning my track meet at home, after an emotionally exhausting season.

That is the light, and I found it.  And as the trophy rode shot gun, I fought back 45 minutes of tears, and I could not understand why.  It was a small track meet with about 8-10 teams.  We were expected to win.  We always win.  Why in the world was I so emotional?

We have a district championship to win, and a regional championship to win, and a state podium calling our name.  Why am I crying in the middle?  The season is not over.  There’s so much more to come, and God reminded me.  “Your tears are here because the Light is in the middle…because no matter what happens from here, you will never lose right now.  Nothing can take away from right now.”

Parents were shaking my hand.  My athletes wanted to take all kinds of pictures, even the ones I just met less than 3 months ago.  I screamed along with the teenage girls when they made the announcement, as though I had never won a track meet before, as though they have never won a track meet before, as though we would not hear the same announcement for district, and for regionals, as though we would not take tons more pictures on podiums and with trophies at state.  I wanted to tell them it was just a track meet, but I was too busy enjoying the light.

Because I found the light, and enjoyed every second of the light,…I became the light…

The same way my daughter became the light…the way her teacher helped her find the light…over a Disney character.  I became excited because my little girl was excited, and I will forever love the teacher that shared with my baby that she also loves Minnie Mouse…

No matter what happens with my track season…where my teaching career takes me…whether I ever finish Facebooking my house….I will forever look back and smile on those moments when I found the Light.  So if you are wondering what to do in the meantime…how to manage the middle…I will finish where I started…Find the Light.

The Light is there with the highs, and He is there with the lows, but He shines most right there in-between.  The more you find the Light, the more that you dwell on and in the Light, the more like the Light you become.

As such, here is what to do in the meantime.

1. Find the Light…(leading directly into number 2)
2. BE the light.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven,”  Matthew 5:16.

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What are some things that you do in the meantime?

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Linked at Salt & Light