Waiting for Change & Contentment

I wait all year for scenes like this...
Fall is my favorite season.  I love the cool nights with the warmish days, the vibrant and glorious colors, the baking, the sweaters & jeans, the Deerfield Fair day with family & friends... everything.
So now we are into August and summer seems to have flown by, yet I am ready for the next thing.  J and I are pretty well ready to start school, though B refuses to consider it until after his birthday (and really who can blame him?).
Of course change is often very messy.  Such as several days of upheaval, noise, and sawdust to have a new floor put in - but it's OH so pretty!

Very worth it...don't you think?

Life and it's many changes can be hard.  Exciting. Frustrating. Nerve-wracking. Difficult. And I usually like to say I don't like change... unless it is my idea.
Yet it feels like so much in life is waiting for the next thing, the next stage, the next project to be done. 
Am I content? 
I'm reading a devotional book about contentment right now.  It's a marvelous reminder that contentment comes when I am focused on Christ and His purposes for my life.  When I hand over the reins to the One with the true plan and best ideas for my life (which is NOT me by the way!).  I find when I practice this discipline in my day-to-day life, there is less frustration and less waiting.
When I truly try to live the life each day that God allows.  The one with His priorities instead of my 'to-do' lists.  The one with people and service and love and grace flowing through and swirling around.  The days with music and smiles and sometimes tears as well.
I. am. content.
That is not all to say that life is all butterflies and rainbows and little birds singing in the tree outside my window.  In actuality the birds outside the window at 4:30 am are really dreadfully annoying, and the dog hair is threatening to take over the downstairs, the dishes and laundry always need doing, etc.  But this is all part of the music of our lives here.  It's real.  A dear friend once said it is job security. :-)
My only true security is in Christ and leaning into Him for strength and grace for each day.... even the really tough days... that is contentment.  And for this and so much more... I am thankful.