Lily Pads

My favorite author wrote in my favorite book about lily pads. She writes that our journey in life is just like jumping from lily pad to lily pad, from one safe place to another.

I have really felt that way lately. Just when I get settled on one lily pad, something else falls into the water, causing just enough of a ripple that causes me to jump. Sometimes that jump is welcomed. That is the jump that comes off of a nice, strong, green, lily pad. I am ready for this jump. The lily pad provides a steady base that I can spring off of, reaching another lily pad that will hold my weight. This is like when I graduated college, ready to get married and start seminary, knowing that what I was leaving would always provide a strong foundation, but more importantly a strong sounding board. I would leave that place, never coming back to it, but always remembering how long it had held me up.

But then there are those lily pads that sink when you hit them. Maybe they hold you up for a while, but as you grow heavy and settle into your life on that lily pad, it sinks under your weight. And as the water starts to creep in over the edges of the lily pad, you realize that you have to jump off, without seeing a lily pad in front of you, but knowing that the one you are on is not where you want to stay.

I have started to realize that life is just a series of lily pads... you will never settle in one safe place, but like Anne writes, you just have to move from safe place to safe place. And now I have to decide (luckily not by myself) weather I will stay or if I will jump. And I don't see any lily pad in front of me. I just have to figure out whether this lily pad is the strong, green one, or if the water is creeping up towards my feet.