About the Author

Rachel Marie Kang is the author of Let There Be Art and The Matter of Little Losses. A writer of poems, prose, and other pieces, she is founder of The Fallow House and the Social Media & Guest Post Manager for (in)courage. Connect with her at rachelmariekang.com.

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things we love
& you will too!
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  1. Oh dear Rachel, you are certainly not alone. For me, it’s living in a cottage on the coast or Maine; it’s returning to live in Colorado near my daughter where I can look at the mountains; it’s being the legal aid attorney I so aspired to be in my younger days; it’s entertaining a house full of grandchildren; it is growing old with my husband who died 5 years ago. I am 69 and still can’t seem to be at the place of total peace and acceptance try as I do. So I get it and appreciate that you were willing to share this.

    • Cottage on the coast is another one for me, too. I honeymooned in Maine — and will never forget it. Wishing you peace in the days to come…and the courage to continue to admit these deeper things. They matter so <33

  2. I want to say thank You Lord for my life. Glory to the name of Jesus !

    My desire was to become a Nurse Midwife after college but that didn’t happen to me. Instead, I got married and now I have three lovely daughters and I have been married 43 years. Sometimes I feel like I missed that opportunity. My daughters often say they wish I could have achieved that dream. Would I be the same person I am now? Would my children be good citizens and kindhearted to others, I truly hope so. We can’t go back and change the past. It can be a nice memory.

    I certainly hope that my daughters don’t have regrets from college like I did once upon a time. I’m going to listen to them more closely when the time is right to have mother and daughters conversations. Smile.

    I do know that I have a good life and many kind people have poured into my heart to make me a better person.

    With Gratitude and Sincerity,

    Brenda
    A Child of God

    • Brenda- I had regrets from college as well, so I made it a point to have those important mother/child conversations as my three were heading to college at their respective times, and I loved that period in life because I felt like a coach and a cheerleader all in one. All three kids are now in successful careers (no thanks to me, but thanks to God!) but I do like to feel the guidance I provided due to being very involved with their choices made a difference. Half of the time it was continual guidance as majors were changed and paths were forged, but that was the exciting discovery part! I’m happy for you because it’s an exciting time to pair with your child and get them lined up for what’s next with God’s help.

  3. I recently saw myself in video teaching my 4-5th grade Sunday school class. Yikes! Who is that wrinkled, scraggly grey-haired woman with bifocals sliding down her nose?! But in a closer shot, my eyes are focused on a child obviously speaking out of the shot. Ironically the wrinkles, grey hair & skewed glasses disappear as the love of Christ shines toward my kiddo. Ahh Christ in me, a non-parent non-teacher teaching! Simply Wow! He sees me more accurately than I see myself & brings the beauty to light! Only Christ!

  4. Your words today hit me right in my heart! Thank you for your raw honesty. I’m currently reading your book “Let There Be Art” and am learning to embrace all the ways God created me to create, think, and dream. I’m even trying my hand at poetry.

  5. Wow…..tears sprung to my eyes as I read this. Thank you for writing something so real, so vulnerable, so “we’re-all-thinking-this-but-afraid-to-say-it”. You are right; we don’t need to be told again to be content, be thankful it’s not worse, be grateful for what we have. We ARE all those things. But we are also those dreams that were never fulfilled. I never thought of inviting God into those lost and distant hopes and memories, but you opened the possibility to do so and not feel guilty about it. Thank you!

    • I hoped this piece would resonate with even just a few hearts. So glad you’re one of them. Love how you said: “We ARE all those things. But we are also those dreams that were never fulfilled.” Totally get that, and wishing you peace as you ponder all these deeper things.

  6. I needed this today. Thank you Rachel Kang for putting into words what all of us think and feel.

  7. Thank you, Rachel. I was crying reading this because sometimes I feel that I am in the movie “Groundhog Day” living the same day and the same things over and over. I wanted to be an actress. Didn’t happen. However I sing in my church choir and am happy to do so. I wanted to be a famous author. I finally wrote a children’s book that I hope will bless many and give God Glory. Just today, our electric company turned off the power to work on upgrades in our area. My computer hadn’t been working well (for a long time) and I prayed that God would bring it back when the power went back on. He did! God has always been there even in the mundane groundhog days! God bless you and all reading this and know God is always there with, for and beside us through each day!

    • Trina, I hear you! I asked God for something seemingly small . . . to see a flower in my neighborhood bloom, though it’d be likely it wouldn’t bloom. And, low and behold, it bloomed over the weekend! Such joy in my heart — that He sees and cares about those little things. Hope your week continues to hold small but sweet reminders of the same : )

  8. Can’t say how much I appreciate your realness, Rachel! I dream–and then jump to create or write every idea as it comes. And the busy it creates in my soul is its own sort of escape.

    God sees, knows, cares about ALL the things that matter to us. Thank you for that!!!

  9. Didn’t realize I wasn’t alone in these thoughts that sometimes suprise me!

    Thank you so very much for allowing my heart the relief that comes with community! I praise the Lord for my life, and I will thank Him for the interjection that only He could have allowed to bring me to where I am now, rather than where my mind thinks I should be at times!

    xoxo

  10. Dear Rachel,
    Thank you very much for sharing this today, l am so encouraged. I also didn’t realise I wasn’t alone in this. You’ve described so well what I’ve been doing, and your words have given me hope and shown me the way forward. Thank you!

  11. Today is my 69th birthday and your post, Rachel, touched a lot of things in my mind and soul.

    Basically, what you’ve described has been pretty much my whole life since the end of my first semester of college (which was my last until I got an Associates Degree in 1993) and my dream of being a school art teacher and working artist died.

    I’ve not had a career other than a wife/homemaker/mom since then – and none of those were what I had seen me being in my dreams of what my life would be when I was younger. I’ve been successful at several things – until I try to earn some income from them, then it always fails. It has been horribly difficult in our career obsessed world to deal with that emotionally.

    “It’s true — sometimes our tendency to daydream is really just a desperate attempt to replay the scripts of all our secret longings. All of which matter to God, even if they don’t ever come to fruition. So what if we let these replays become prayers? What if we let them become pleas, invitations to ask God to help us make peace with all that swells in and around us?”

    God helping me “make peace with” it all sounds wonderful, but I don’t seem do be asking correctly or something as I’ve been asking for help with that for years and it’s yet to happen. I still feel crushed by not having a career of some sort or being able to help my family financially; all the dreams not turning into anything more than hobbies.

    “What are your multifaceted passions and daydreams? How can you open your heart to believe that God sees all of what you wish for and all of who you are?”

    I don’t have any more “passions and daydreams.” I’ve already tried everything I ever pictured being, and many things I never thought/dreamed of as well. What is supposed to come of opening my heart “to believe that God sees all of what you wish for and all of who you are?” ? What do you mean or see as happening as a result of that? I do believe He sees all of that, I just wish He would tell me “all of who I am” in His eyes and plans, it would help me to know whether or not I’ve been sorely letting him down or doing okay and He’s not disappointed with me.

  12. Rachel,

    We all have dreams. Some of them come to fruition. A couple of mine did. Growing up in Brandon (Tampa) FL I wished to live amongst the mountains. Also wanted to get married. God blessed me when He answered both prayers. I live in Elizabethton, TN (Upper E. TN) & look out at the Smokey Mountains with my wonderful hubby of almost 20 years. Other dreams like traveling on Route 66 out west, visiting the Grand Canyon a 2nd time & Yosemite National Park. Then there are the dreams of life. Those I pray to God about daily. Wanting easier days at work for hubby, different home (turnkey), planning for retirement. Making the dreams of others come true. I would love for Loaves & Fishes Food Bank to have a new building all their own with more space. All in good time.

    Blessings 🙂