One of the hundreds of things I wish I could change--that I had decided much younger to listen to God. It took me way too many years to acknowledge He knew better than I did what would be good for me.
I don't remember a time when I didn't know about Jesus being my ticket to heaven. Someone in my young childhood planted that seed, and I must have been pretty young because I can't remember who or when.
When I was in my twenties, my friend Nancy Morgan told me I could invite Jesus into my life to be my personal friend. Wow! I didn't know He wanted to be! The seed was exposed to the Living Water and began to grow. I wouldn't want to change that.
However, I decided again to make my own decisions. It wasn't a conscious decision--I just started doing the things that I thought benefitted me, fooey on what God wanted. The seed decided to try to grow on the well-traveled path that leads to destruction. I not only didn't grow, I withered. My so-called Christian life wouldn't stand up in the Light.
If only I could change that--a lot fewer people would have been hurt. Including me. I turned into a prickly pear cactus, jabbing those who got too close.
But the great thing is that God didn't give up on me. He put people and incidents on my path that began to cultivate me. They yanked me up from that well-worn path and transplanted me on the Way that leads to Life.
Nope. Wouldn't change that. Here I am, gazing at the sunset that grows ever closer, and happier than I've ever been. You might say the manure made me grow up. The seedling finally became what it was intended to be and lifted to the Son. Fruit begins to be seen, some ripe and some still green but ripening.
Thank you, Lord.
If only I'd done this sooner.
If only.
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