Are You Living the Life You Desire?

This weekend Doug and I will attend our 40th high school reunion. 40th. High. School. Reunion. Reaching this milestone feels so unbelievably impossible, I've resorted to my nemesis, math, to convince myself that it has indeed been FOUR DECADES since I watched my then-friend -- and future husband -- run cross-country...

That's my Doug in the middle.

Acted in The Visit (I played a nun) ...


This was obviously taken during dress rehearsal because I'm in jeans and army boots (left), and not in full nun regalia. Yes, I wore a habit.

 



And in Butterflies Are Free (as the free-spirited Jill) ...



There's enough material in the bell-bottoms alone to re-cover a sofa.

Cheered the Bruins on to victory (though, judging by this photo, it appears I've given up on them and am now wallowing in despair) ...

Tadpole eyebrows alert!

And was crowned Prom Queen wearing the dress my parents bought me to wear to the previous year's prom but didn't because Gary -- whose name I'm declining to post because we all do dumb things in high school that shouldn't be held against us when we finally grow up and become adults -- dumped me TWO WEEKS before the festivities ..



I believe this photo was snapped immediately after my boyfriend whispered the endearing words,  "I think my class ring is snagged in your hair." :)

I absolutely loved my senior of high school when these photos were taken. The things I did defined me, which is why I was utterly lost once I graduated. Though I was a Christian, my life wasn't hidden in Christ, and, to be honest, I didn't want it to be. After all, if Christ actually possessed me (He already owned me when I received His gift of salvation), then my life couldn't be about ME.

If I could tell the Young Lynne in these pictures anything, it would be this: The Big Life you're hungry for has nothing to do with scrambling and scheming. It's not about gaining the admiration or approval of others. It's found in humbly following Jesus.

Back then you couldn't have convinced me that Jesus -- simply knowing, belonging to, and obeying Him -- could out distance, out give, and out satisfy any of my "about me" dreams and desires.

But HE does.

German preacher and hymn writer Joachim Neander expresses it beautifully and powerfully in his hymn "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" --

Praise to the Lord
Who o'er all things so wondrously reighneth
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

The details of the life God has gifted me aren't at all what I'd imagined in my teens...they're infinitely better! Call it the life I desired but didn't know I desired.

Preacher Neander is right: YES, my desires have been granted in the life Jesus chose for me.

Doug and I love our life together!