Brighter Days

     I was looking back at my sketchbook just the other day to clean up some of the drawings from Istanbul. I came across one that I forgot I even drew. It wasn't a typical sketchbook drawing but I felt that it was important for documentation. On the page, are lines in a variety of shapes, sizes, and directions. As an architecture student, we were taught in a drawing class about how to draw a line. There is a lot more that goes into it than one would think. A line should always have a clear starting point and a clear ending point. And as you draw, your pencil should be slightly wiggling all the way across. The wiggle helps you keep control over your hand and your pencil.

    
     This idea of drawing a straight line makes me think about our lives and the paths that we take. In our lives, we need a clear starting point that gets us off on the right foot. As we continue down the path that God leads us, its never completely straight. We are constantly wiggling, constantly straying but somehow its still all part of the path. What would happen if we didn't wiggle and we tried to stay as straight and steady as we could? Just like drawing a line we would go off in directions that we don't want to go off in. What always gets me is this path that I think I have planned. So many times as we were walking around the city of Istanbul did our path unexpectedly change. Sometimes for the better and other times for the worse. I always think I have a plan yet that plan is just a plan and thats all it is. The more I try and make it my path, the more frustrating it gets. You cannot limit yourself to your plans because our plans are not ours but God's.
    
     Take for example, a plan in architecture. It's a drawing that clearly explains the design so that others can take it further and make it "real". But how many times does it take to perfect the plan? Architects go through revision after revision before a plan can be set in stone. And even after, the plan is constantly being edited to accommodate the end result. I know it is always important to have a plan and a direction. It is necessary for my future. I just need to keep in mind that my plan is will be constantly under revision. But in the end, just like a well planned and well executed design it will work out.