A few years ago, the LDS church embarked on a huge construction project in Downtown Salt Lake City to create an incredible urban center that would include shopping, apartments, entertainment and education. In the 1980's, the church was able to buy up the two existing downtown malls for a song, and so the careful planning commenced. The architects for this massive renovation visited many other successful downtown urban centers and took notes on what worked and what did not. Soon, they had a plan ready to present for approval. They felt that they had the prefect plan, except for a little hitch: a small, locally owned business that had a hundred year lease in a prime location right smack in the middle. And they were not about to give up their spot. Rightly so. They stuck to their guns on this one, forcing the architects to go back to the the drawing board. At the time, I'm sure it felt like a disaster. But in the end, the architects came up with in even BETTER plan. They sing praises to this little company: "God Bless that little business because it allowed us to come up with a better plan." Life, by it's very nature, does that same thing to us. We are going along with our carefully laid plans, and a curve ball is thrown at us. Or maybe we are the one who throws that curve ball. Either way, it's amazing to me how, with a little time and space, we can look back and see how that change in plan actually moved us towards a different and better direction. As I was sitting on the front porch today with Markelle, I marvelled at the fact that I was sitting on THAT front porch, looking at THAT view. A year ago, it never even crossed my mind that I would be living anywhere else. It was not in the plan, it was not in my thoughts and it wasn't even a desire. The passage of time has also brought a lot of understanding and healing into my life. While my life a while back seemed like a construction zone, I no longer feel like I have to go around wearing a hard hat. I feel safe, secure, strong and happy. I think I will survive and thrive under this reconstruction.
