Only to be where He puts me

How does that poem go? "Only to be where He puts me, only to do His will". Hmm, I wonder what the name of the poem is and who the author is. I guess I should put it into a search and probably I would find it! But not right now.

Being a Sunday afternoon, I've been reading blogs, websites, and e-newsletters of some of my favorite personalities on the web...many of whom I now count as my friends. Among the ones I've visited today is the blog of my friend Sarah, who has wonderful resources both for spiritual support and for knowledge about blindess; Michele, who has an encouraging website about doing medical transcription at home...and other home businesses; Maureen, who writes about Catholic homeschooling; Danielle, whose homey, humorous style makes one smile as she shares her experiences raising her seven young children; and Nancy, a Catholic mother who writes romance books.

As I've been reading lately, I've been feeling a twinge of envy at something so many people seem to have that I don't seem to have. No, it's not something material. It's simply focus. My son (to be more specific, Paul, the one who is my webmaster) agreed with me the other day that I would probably be able to drive more traffic to my website if I had more of a specific direction.

But then I started thinking, "This is me; my website is an example of who I am." As I often say, "I am a jack of many trades and master of none". I follow where the Spirit leads me...or where the wind leads me, or where my desires lead me. (I hope that much of the time it really turns out to be where the Spirit is leading me.)

Here is how my Mothers Almanac came to be what it is today: When my children were little, I read lots of books, keeping a list so I would have ideas of good books to get at the library for them. I always thought that some day, in the distant future, I would share that list with others, and I would call it Mothers Almanac. In the meantime, my kids reached school age and I began homeschooling. Over the years, I would meet people - at the park or a doctor's office - who would ask me how they could get information about homeschooling. I would ask them some questions: How old are the children? What religion are you? ...and so on. Then I would go home, gather up some old homeschooling magazines and information, and mail them a little care package. When I had the opportunity to make a website, I thought I could save having to gather all that information each time I talked to someone. And I could make my book lists available, as well. Little did I know at the time that the new information revolution would enable people to look up all that information on their own quite easily. But I continue to keep the information there, at my website, in case someone can use it.

And then along came our son's vision loss, and I decided to include resources that helped us with that, and resources that might help others. And so the site has grown, "busier" and more diverse all the time...just like my life.

Today I realized that others may have a central theme but apparently variety IS my "theme". And God uses us just as we are. I pray that He will use me to help others in whatever ways He sees best.

By the way, here are the websites I visited today:
Growing Strong, Sarah Blake http://www.growingstrong.org
Medical Transcription at Home, Michele Miller http://www.medical-transcription-at-home.com

Catholic Homeschool Writer, Maureen Wittmann http://www.maureenwittmann.blogspot.com
Catholic Mother and Author, Danielle Bean http://www.daniellebean.com
Romance Author, Nancy Brandt http://www.nancysbrandt.com

Here is a link to the poem! (I found it!)
Only to Do His Will, http://cvhope.20m.com/godpoems.htm

And of course, last but not least, here's the link for my website, Mothers Almanac:
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalmanac