:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

Today is my 31st birthday, and it also marks the one-year mark for our time in Connecticut. A lot has changed over the past year, and I’ve learned many a hard lesson.

In many ways I feel like the writing/publishing industry gave me a bloody nose. I had certain plans and goals for this past year that were not realized, but we’re still standing and I’ve learned so much. In the past three months I’ve had enough significant breaks and lessons that I feel like I have something solid to build upon.

In addition, I have learned that my writing location is vitally important for my creativity. Sitting in our new apartment with its large, south-facing windows, my writing has taken off. I can feel the muse stirring within. Ideas, characters, and scenes are coming together much faster.

It’s also been encouraging to see how our marriage has grown and strengthened in the midst of all the changes that our new lifestyle brings—she as a graduate student and myself as a full time writer.

However, there are three really big surprises in my walk with the Lord from the past year that make me stop and pinch myself. Here’s the run-down:

We live in Connecticut.

While dating Julie I used to drive through Connecticut on my way to visit her and often sat in traffic jams. While there I would dream of Connecticut falling into the ocean, or Long Island Sound, so I could drive straight from New York to Massachusetts. And now I live in Connecticut.

The thing is, parts of Connecticut are pretty nice. We’re in the hilly northeast section that has a lot of small towns and farms. It’s not Vermont, but we’ve found many things to enjoy. During walks in the woods we find old stone walls and apple orchards, the local farm movement is growing, and we’re not too far from the ocean.

Connecticut is not our ideal location, but it’s been a good place to live for the past year, even if the snow here really sucks for cross-country skiing.

I’m using my love of gardening for ministry.

While in my church’s ministry garden last night, I dug up a section of lettuce that failed to beat out the weeds and replanted it with beans. As I prepared the row for the beans on that cool summer evening, I realized there was no other place I’d rather be. Later today I’ll drop off a small harvest from our ministry garden at a local soup kitchen, the second share of what will hopefully be a growing harvest.

It blows my mind to realize that God has given me not only a passion for gardening, but a way to use it in ministry to others. Our 700 square foot garden may not produce too much food for the local soup kitchens, but I can see the seeds that are being sown. Even if the harvest is modest this year, I am happy to be part of what God is up to in our area.

God continues to push me deeper into who he is away from who I am.

Over this past year I continue to learn to place the most value in knowing God. While trying to sell our house last fall, God taught me to seek him before seeking solutions to my problems. In addition, it’s been easy to seek success in my work before seeking success with him.

I feel like there are steps forward and backward in this regard, but it can be a joyful process to the degree that I learn to delight in him and his presence rather than my own fleeting accomplishments. That is a tough lesson to learn, but it has lasting consequences.