As we walked through the door the music was blaring and I immediately thought to myself "What have I done?" I had a one year old on my hip and a five year old jumping up and down with excitement. Kristina had never been roller skating before and she was about to have a come apart to get going. Shane was working the night shift and after working all week long the idea of taking the kids out for something fun to do seemed like a good idea. There weren't many cars in the parking lot and I really thought I had picked the perfect place. I never even considered the fact that some parents drop their kids off at the skating rink so needless to say the sparse parking lot was nothing more than a joke for me. The place was PACKED!
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Gabe was amazed by the lights and the sounds. He was constantly flinging his head this way and that way trying to take it all in. Keeping him steady on my hip was a one man show in itself and dealing with Kristina swinging from my other arm was nothing more than a mere art form.
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I finally made my way to the counter, swapped her shoes for some skates and after chasing Gabe, shoving on a skate, chasing Gabe, tying a skate and then once again chasing Gabe we finally made it to the moment of truth. She was ready to go. I grabbed a sippy cup out of the diaper bag for Gabe and gave Kristina specific instructions. I found me and Gabe a place to play and all seemed well. Kids were flying past us so fast that my hair would blow with the wind. Gabe couldn't do anything but stand there and point and every once in a while I would see that blonde pony tail come stomping by. Kristina could not get the hang of how to skate so she merely stomped her way around the rink. She waved with each pass and had a smile that went from ear to ear.
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After an hour or so Gabe became bored and with a little work on my part I was able to get him to fall asleep. Believe it or not the noise and the lights didn't bother him in the slightest. Once Gabe was good and asleep I began to cheer Kristina on more and more. I decided to reposition my post and once I got set again I looked up and noticed that she was skating in the opposite direction of everyone else. You know the drill. You skate to the right. Oh, no, not Kristina. She had decided to skate to the left.
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"Kristina!" I yelled "Turn around right now and go the right way!"
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She put her hand on her hip, cocked that blonde head of her sideways and said "Momma, I don't want to go the way everybody else is going. I'm going to go this way!"
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I had Gabe laid out across my arms and the rink was packed so venturing out there to snatch her up was not even an option. I thought for a moment and said "You're going to get run over. Turn around!"
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She ignored me and began to stomp her way to the left with kids whizzing around her. I finally decided that she was going to have to learn this one on her on and just stood there watching. It was like watching a train wreck. I knew what the outcome would be but I was helpless to stop it. Within just a few minutes it happened. Kristina was completely mowed over by some girl who was skating backwards. She went down hard, screamed as loud as she could and crawled over to me. She had huge tears coming down out of those beautiful blue eyes, her bottom lip was poked out and she said "I just want to go my own way!"
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That has been the motto for Kristina her entire life. She don't follow the crowd. She is not the one to wear something, buy something, say something just because everyone else is. As a matter of fact, if everyone else is wearing it, saying it, doing it I can guarantee you she won't be! The "it" thing is nothing more than a repellent for Kristina.
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You know sometimes in our lives we tend to forget that our path with God is not going to be the "it" thing. As Christians we are going to be persecuted, laughed at, mowed over! But, the main thing we must focus on is sticking to our course. We need to remember that God is the one in control and even though our path will often times seem dark, lonely and a little rainy he is the one who is controlling the light, the companionship and the storms.
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"Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow." Psalm 5:8. (NLT) The enemy is everywhere and if we don't make sure our path is HIS path we are doomed. Many times in life going against the grain is going to be tough, it is going to hurt and it may even cause us to cry; but, isn't the end result worth it all in the end? Just like child birth. It hurts and it makes us cry but to hold that precious baby in our arms for the first time and then to hold them in our hearts for the rest of our lives is unexplainable. What path are you on? Do you have any idea where your path is headed? Are you on the path because it is God's path or is it your path?
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