Making a Difference

by admin

Gina Caswell Kelly

One of my grandsons goes to school at one of the rural schools in the area. I made the commitment this year that I would be his bus driver. This has become a very special time for us. Well, it is a special time for me and I hope it is a special time for him! It has become what we call “Learn-a-drive.” Meaning I try to teach him something everyday. Some days it is more serious and some days it is just basic.

As we drive past the fields and see equipment moving, I teach him about what the farmers are doing and why, and what each piece of equipment is called. We go past cattle and I tell him about what breed they are and why this breed is better than another, in my opinion of course. Some days we talk about the world and what is going on in the news. I try to get him to understand the background stories of why different things are happening in our country. I try really hard to give him the truth about our government, without swaying his opinion one way or the other. Today we talked about gas prices and why they go higher or lower and where our fuel comes from. Sometimes I am really sure he is listening and he will ask questions. Other times, I feel like I am talking for my own benefit as he sits with his eyes closed. He is thirteen. I have raised a couple of thirteen year olds. I know how they can be.

As I have been going through some changes in my life and career in the last couple of months, and as I struggled with what God was leading me to do, he and I had great conversations about this. He asked me one day, “Grandma, if you love what you do so much, why would you even think of quitting?” It was the door that opened for me to tell him about how God directs our path. How sometimes, what He is asking of us may not be the easiest thing, but we have to trust Him that He has something better down the road. We got to talk about how God has a plan for each one of us, for each of our days and how we need to be ready to listen and watch for what He places in front of us. When an unexpected door opened for me before I had even completely closed the other one, I got to talk to KD about the wonderful way God cares for us and the joy of following His plan. KD has gotten to see me getting to continue to do what I love so much, but in a different place. In a place where God has put me. I hope his eyes have been opened just a little to the kind of God we serve. I hope he has seen in me a little bit of what following God, even when it is difficult, looks like. I hope he has seen that God’s plan is infinitely better than anything we can dream up on our own. I hope you have seen that too.

We can all have “Learn-a-Drive” daily in our lives. It can be your time of learning from God. Or it can be a time of teaching your children about the goodness of our Father. Either way, learning daily from and about the God we serve will make a difference!

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