Next?

We never know what's coming at us next, do we?

Life can write all kinds of things on our slate, 

dish out the most unbelievable things quite unexpectedly,

and take us out of the game in mere seconds.

One minute, life is going along swimmingly...

and the next, it suddenly grinds to a halt.

Through it all, we seem to think that it's our 'job'

to figure it out... find a reason... to connect the dots

so that the mishaps of life somehow make sense.

But sometimes, they just DON'T.

And we can't figure out where to go 

from the place where those mishaps unceremoniously dump us.
Sometimes, it takes TIME. A whole lotta' TIME.
There's no time limit on finding meaning or solutions!
We have to think a while,
talk with someone and bounce ideas around,
and then we have to step away and just turn it all off.
Let it 'percolate' awhile in our subconscious.
And when we do that, we have to be able to say
"I Don't Know what I am going to do next. Yet."

Here's what I'm learning:

Saying 'I Don't Know' is OK.

It's OK when well-meaning people ask you what you are going to do next.

It's OK when you are asked to answer their questions or to solve their problems.

(as in, YOUR dilemma is going to affect THEIR life, so... buck up, honey)

It's OK when your brain won't shut up at night.

It's OK when you just don't know what ELSE to say or think.

It's REALLY OK when you are praying...

I'm beginning to think that God really likes it when we say

"God, I don't know what to pray for... just help me".

Because sometimes,

we just don't know what's next.

But He does.

I have friends in chaos right now.
I know of relationships in complete ruins. 

I have a son in unimaginable pain.

I have a business that's struggling after a really low blow.

 And I know that for every one of you out there reading this, 

there are more broken hearts, more illness,

more sadness, more business struggles than I could name in a week.

We're all dealing with something.

Most of us don't know what comes next.

We don't know the why, or the how, or the when.
 

I've adopted 'I Don't Know' as my motto right now.

It's my go-to answer when asked almost any question,

and I repeat it to myself a hundred times a day.

 I tell myself that it's OK that I don't know. Yet.

And it's OK if you don't, either.

 

[image mine, @ my Cottage in 2007]