I'm going to have to show my little-known country side here and admit that, whenever I hear that saying, I get Trisha Yearwood's She's in Love with the Boy stuck in my head.
Maybe you're not surprised that I have a country music side. I'll be the first to jump up and say that it is most definitely NOT a "current" country music side. I couldn't name a current country music song to save my life. But classic country? As in, from the 1960's and 1970's and 1980's and to a lesser but still more-than-you-would-think-if-you-knew-me-at-the-time extent, the 1990's.
It's called, "growing up listening to the music your parents listened to". dontcha know. And growing up in my parents' house, it seemed to me that the stereo was always on. My Dad loved music. Listening to it and playing it. He used to have a wall of 8-tracks next to the wall of CDs in their office -- the same office that today still houses the old console AM/FM stereo with the turntable (with the 45, 33-1/3, AND 78rpm speeds) and the 8-track player and the double cassette player that my Dad retrofitted into in the 80's. The man was serious about his music. But that's now what I wanted to write about. Although it fits at this point because I was talking about how I have this little tiny vein of classic country music knowledge, and now you know.
But do you ever think about how things just happen and, in hindsight, it seems like they were just meant to be? Because I do. These kinds of things fascinate me. When I was a kid, and we'd be driving somewhere, I'd watch out the window and look at all the other cars with people in them (because, you know, we had to entertain ourselves that way since we didn't have phones and devices and such that we brought with us everywhere. The best we had was books, but I got incredibly car sick if I tried to read while driving, so I was "stuck" looking out the window or, for really long trips, listening to music.) and marvel at the fact that all of these other people were doing things that brought us all to that same exact place at that same exact time, even if just for a few seconds. That's kind of but not really the same thing, I know, but it lead to me thinking about coincidence and why things happen the way they do, and how just a few seconds can completely change a situation.
But back to my topic for today -- things that were meant to be. One example in my life that I like to give is, well, me and my hubby. I'll try to keep this short, but, you may or may not already know that we've known each other since junior high school. That's a stretch; we knew of each other in junior high school. We knew of each other more in high school, but I wouldn't even say that we became friends until we started working at the same place together in 10th grade.
One day in 9th or 10th grade, I don't remember which, we had a social studies or history class or something like that together. The teacher was talking about the Treaty of Paris, which was signed on September 3, 1783. I distinctly remember that after the teacher told us the date, my hubby said, "Hey, that's my birthday!" and that caught my attention because, of course, it is also my birthday. Many years later, when sharing this story with him, my hubby would tell me that he knew years earlier that we shared the same birthday because he "actually paid attention during morning announcements" when they shared people's birthdays. I honestly don't remember them doing that, and in any case, our birthdays were always at the very beginning of the school year and who pays attention to morning announcements at the beginning of the school year anyway!?! Weirdo.
I didn't think much of it, until we started dating a few years later. Oh em gee, it was so cool, we were totally meant to be together, we were born on the exact same day and blah blah blah, it's a sign!! I was way into "signs" then. Who isn't, when they're 18 and about to graduate from high school and the world is their oyster and they have no idea what they want to do with their life and they're looking for any kind of direction about which way to go!? Starry-eyed, madly-in-love me was sure that he was my soul mate and that was that. Not just because we were born on the same day. But that was what God had needed to do to get my attention (yes, I did acknowledge even then, if only to myself, that it was a God "thing") and, knowing that, I was fully confident that I was Doing the Right Thing (for what felt like the first time in my young-adult-wannabe life). I gave him my heart and soul and...
...he dumped me. Oh my gosh, the drama! I'll spare you. It's amusing now, considering how it all turned out. Even saying "he dumped me" makes me laugh now. Everyone took everything so serious back then, but man, we were just kids. Not to belittle the emotions because they were very real, but damn. Again, with the benefit now of hindsight...and to the point of this story, you know what? I always knew that we would end up together. I just didn't know when. I can't say how I knew it, because every single sign on Earth seemed to point firmly to the most opposite outcome. Everything and everyone around me was like No, no, no, and no. But there was one voice I heard that kept insisting: Yes, just wait and see.
How long do I have to wait!?
Can't tell you. Just wait.
God has always known that I'm not good at waiting. ;)
Anywho. I can look back at this now and say that I most certainly believe it was the Holy Spirit telling me to wait and be patient. At the time, I didn't know about the Holy Spirit the way I do now. I believe that God brought us together, and at that time I was in the whole 'everything happens for a reason, even things that hurt and things that don't make sense and things that break your heart' so I was trying to figure out why that whole thing was happening, but, yeah. I also like to think of this as proof that we really were meant to be together, because honestly, we tried to NOT be together but just ended up back together anyway. Again, sparing you all the sordid details, ha ha ha.
There are a few other stories I could tell. I'll do the Cliff Notes versions here. Do kids even use Cliff Notes anymore? Probably not.
When we decided to get married, of course we knew it'd have to be on September 3rd. We originally thought we'd wait until the next time it was on a Saturday, which was a few years away from when we got back together, but then decided we didn't want to wait and got married on our next birthdays. September 3rd happened to fall on a Tuesday that year. Didn't realize it at the time, but we were also born on a Tuesday. Weird, right?
About 22 years later, in the middle of January, our son was born. On a Tuesday. OK, so, he wasn't born in September, but his birth day date ends in a 3 and he was also born on a Tuesday. Good enough for me!
I had another "meant to be" moment today, this morning at Bible Study. So, at Saturday Bible Study, we basically go over the lessons (more or less) that will be in Sunday's service. One of the readings, Ephesians 2:13-18, that we read today stood out to me. Not in an "Oh my gosh, this is the most powerful and poignant thing I've ever read!" kind of way, but a much more subtle way that hard to describe. We read it, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it. The thing about group Bible study is that the discussion often takes off (and on Saturday it often makes some sharp turns and goes in completely different directions) right after a passage is read, which makes it difficult to go back and re-read something and really understand what it's saying, you know? Because you're trying to listen to what's going on and also focus on what you just read, which for me anyway is difficult to do. So while the conversation was continuing, I just kept looking at the words, because something about them kept drawing me in. Finally I grabbed my Bible and looked up the verse there, to see if there was something either before or after those verses that I needed to see, and you know what? Sometime in the recent past, I had already marked that same verse in my own Bible. My bookmarker ribbon thingy was even on that very page, and I had drawn an arrow (in black pen) to Ephesians 2:13.
I found that oddly comforting, but it also brought out more questions. When did I mark that in the past? Why did I mark that in the past? Like I said, it didn't strike me as a particularly poignant passage, and I generally only mark super meaningful verses in my own Bible. So at some point, I found that very verse super meaningful, but I couldn't remember when or why. Not only that, but I put my page marker ribbon on that page, which means I really wanted to remember it. So now I'm convinced that there's something in there I need to hear, read, comprehend, realize. And you know what? I love it! I don't care if I sound like a freak. This message was sent to me directly from God, I know it, and I am sooooooo comforted by that. Like, I know I don't have to question His intent or wonder if He has some hidden agenda or anything. Because I'm tired of trying to figure people out. People fascinate but confuse me, and that gets tiring. His Word is what it is. I'm understanding that more day by day.
The hubby has to work overnight tonight, boo, and even though we worked opposite shifts for years (I used to be the overnight worker, tho!), I can't fall asleep without him very well, so I'm sitting up writing instead. I think I'll close up here soon and go read that verse for a while. I don't even think about it all that much, I just kind of look at the words and relax and...it's so comforting.
God is good...ALL. THE. TIME!!
Peace out, y'all.
P.S. in case you're wondering:
Ephesians 2:13-18 (NIV)
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
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