“God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” – The Serenity Prayer
People have often asked me, “Knowing what you know now, if you could change your calling in life, would you?” The answer of course, is “no”. This is not to say that there have not been circumstances, appointments, parsonages, and situations that I probably would have changed at the moment, but if I had, I don’t believe things would have not worked out as they did.
The first apartment Randy and I shared was the upstairs of an old house near Agnes Scott College in Decatur. I taught school, and Randy attended classes at Emory and worked construction part time. He likes to tell people that he built the parking lot at Lenox Square. He did work there as a carpenter’s assistant, but the “building” part is a stretch. Just the thought that he worked there; however, keeps me from parking in that lot when I go to shop.
The house was pre civil war and at one time, beautiful; however, when we moved in, it was just old. The floor in the kitchen sloped so badly that if you put food on one end of the table, it slid to the other. No passing required.
There was no shower, just a tub with a sprayer that we held in one hand while bathing with the other. If the boys in the downstairs apartment flushed the toilet, you would have no water for ten minutes. In order to complete a bath, we stomped on the floor to let them know we needed ten minutes!!
Would I have changed all this at the time? Yes, indeed. Would I take anything for the memories? No way. That time helped us to appreciate the things that were to come such as showers, level floors, and living above the poverty level.
God supplies me each day with serenity to accept those bigger things in life that I cannot change. I hope I have done an acceptable job changing the things that I can for good, but I still pray each day for wisdom to know the difference. God’s plan is perfect for each of us – so I wouldn’t change a thing!
Enjoy your blog. I look forward to reading them. This one made me think about my life and it took me a long time to realize I couldn’t change things. God did take care of me with an even better life!! God is good!
Thanks for sharing your stories! Love the stories and esp. you, too!
This reminds me of our first apt. In Virginia after we got out of the Army. Still remember with great memories. An older lady owned the house and we lived upstairs. She became like a grandmother to us.