Last Friday, the Faulkettes started another year of school. Ana is a sixth grader, and Emma is a fifth grader.

They’re old enough now to know the routines involved in the first day of school, and they handled it like pros, even with Ana moving to the middle school. They knew what to do, and they got it done. With that ease and familiarity, though, comes a certain amount of complacency.

Yes, they’re already tired of school. It’s only the second day. (It’s gonna be a long year!)

I was talking to Ana about her general feeling of bleh as she got herself ready for school today. “Why do you think God has you where you are?” I asked. And she shrugged and gave me a very middle school kind of look. You know the one. A look that suggests that I’m an idiot and that I can’t possibly fathom what it’s like to be an angst-filled preteen. Been there, done that, shortstack, but I’ve learned a thing or two since. The greatest of which is this…

“Maybe God has you where you are so that you can be prepared for the future,” I said. “Getting your education. Taking the steps now to make sure that you can go on to high school, then to college, then on to whatever He has for your future. Or maybe…”

And I narrowed my eyes at her thoughtfully, holding back as though I had a great secret.

I may be an idiot in her eyes at times, but she still wants to know what I know. Because even idiots know a thing or two.

“What?” she asked. “Maybe what?”

“Maybe you’re where you are because God’s already doing what He’s planned to do with your life,” I said. “Maybe right now, right at Vidalia Junior High, He has planned and purposed for you, Ana Faulk, to be His ambassador and His missionary WHERE YOU ARE.”

I know, right? Crazier things have happened. And I don’t look at public school as my child’s mission field. I look at the entire world as her mission field, because she’s in Christ, and He goes before her wherever life leads her, using each and every opportunity in each and every place to get His glory. And right now, that place is middle school.

I’m not sure Ana bought into this (because the angst is thick around here), but she finished getting ready for school. And when I prayed for her and Emma in the car, that they would be used by God wherever He has them, she seemed to be a little less angst-y about it all. As I keep saying it, affirming it, and praying it, I think it’ll become more rooted in her heart and mind. I pray it will be.

It’s a good lesson for me, too. We’re called to be His where we are, no matter where that is, no matter what season we’re in, and no matter what our feelings are on it all. I can be an ambassador for Christ as I stay at home with small preschool aged children. I can be an ambassador for Christ as I go to a job every day. I can be an ambassador for Christ as I spend my time completing a long to do list that never seems to get shorter. Every day, as I’m living for Christ, He’s working through me, so that where I am is exactly what He’s using for His glory.

Be content where you are and confident in Christ, as He works through you…