the hard work...

It was a quick question... just wanting to know how her first work day back in the zoo was.  Her speedy reply of Very good! made me grin.  She is glad to be back.  And then my girl-of-few-words went on... It rained. And we were setting posts in the ground, SO I went home covered in mud and dirt.  You know how sometimes you just know the tone of a text?  I knew.  I knew... that she had loved every muddy second of it.

This is her dream.  Her muddy, messy, lovely dream.  And I want it for her so badly that I can taste it.  I tell myself that if, perhaps, this is not the road God wants her on to get to it, that it will be okay.  And while I know it will be, it just might break my heart a little bit anyway.

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that the messiest paths are the very best... laden with lesson, deep in perseverance.  Our hemlines may tear and stain as we trudge through, but looking back, I know that my life without my own messy missteps would be less.  Once upon a time, I wished for rainbows, fairy tales, and all things easy for my girl... but today I know, that as she soaks away the aches of hard work with tea and hot bubbles, she has a smile of satisfaction on her sleepy face, a smile that says I'm strong, I can do it.  

It does a mama-heart good... to know that she can assemble her own fairy tale.  And when that rainbow appears, she'll know it was not a silly wish, but a gift from above, the One who has planned and guided her way from the start.