How would you answer this question?

I have been hearing a lot of questions lately.  Such is the nature of working with elementary children.  Here is a sampling:

"Can you tell me a story, about me?"
"What did the nut say to the other nut?" [answer: You're nuts!]
"Why are there watermelons without seeds?"
"What would happen if you mixed a cup of something bitter, something salty, something sweet, and something sour together?"
"How old is your mom?"
"What does 'interference' mean?"
"Will we see Judas in heaven?" [I am not making this up, this topic has come up in conversation twice since I've been working there].

I have had an idea rolling around in my head for awhile to write a blog post about the importance of asking questions, and fill it up with cute and meaningful quotes and questions from the nanny family.  However, there were two significant flaws in this scenario:

1. Remembering their questions required me to actually remember their questions.
2. I  only had one thing on my mind to say about it.

I'll go ahead and let you know the one thing that I initially wanted to share and tangent my way off into another topic.  Here it is:

Asking questions is the smart thing to do.

I didn't always believe this.  In fact, I thought that smart kids (or people, as I referred to my peers once I reached the age of 12 or so) were the ones who knew enough so that they didn't need to ask questions.  Teaching in the music classroom proved that to be quite untrue.  In my classroom, I learned that the kids who are the brightest, who care the most about learning, the ones who are most likely to succeed are the one to ask questions.  They would be the ones to stop me mid-story to ask what a word meant.  They would be first to admit that something didn't make sense.  It was the not-as-smart kids who would just go along with anything and either not notice or care that something didn't make sense.

Moral of this story?  Ask questions.  Be smart.

My awesome younger brother asked me an interesting question the other day.  (Did you notice this transition into a new topic?  Smooth and flawless).  We hadn't talked on the phone in awhile, and he asked what the highlight of my month was.  I happened to have a wonderful October, and tried to pinpoint why and answer in a more succinct, less Emily-esque-spiderwebby way and was mostly successful.  I said something along the lines of I have enjoyed working full time and settling into my wonderful job, and then enjoying my weekends with my husband even more. 

While I think that is true information, I think that there's more to the "enjoyment" of this past month.  Not only have I been enjoying myself, I can confidently say that I have experienced some amazing contentment, and I believe that this contentment is directly correlated with the fact that where I am (and where Ryan and I are, as a family) right now is in the center of God's will.

Because I am not the apostle Paul and have not learned to be content in any and every circumstance, when I do get to a point of feeling contented, I try to milk it for all its worth.  I reflect on it, I praise God, I smile a lot.  I think a lot about why I'm there, or about how I got there.  I recently tried to analyze this and realized that thinking in terms of the following statement was quite nice and helpful in organizing how I am feeling and such:
 
"I know I am in the center of God's will when..."

When what?  How could I articulate this?  How could I express myself when things are going well?  How would I finish this statement?  How would you finish this statement?

I asked some friends to fill in the blank in this statement, too, and wanted to share some of the answers I gave and they gave.  I'll give you my responses first:

"I know I am in the center of God's will when...."
-My circumstances lead me to an unfamiliar or unexpected place, yet I have true contentment there
-I can see a clear need and see how I (along with my giftings/talents/whatnot) can fill it
-My heart feels lighter [I know my Myers-Briggs letters could be written as ENFP, as I am a true feeler, but please believe me when I say this is a legitimate and truly amazing feeling]
-I don't turn back, even if I'm scared and want to.

Here's how some of my friends responded:
"I know I am in the center of God's will when...."
-I have the peace that surpasses human understanding (especially when my circumstances "should" be throwing me into a panic)
-I am abounding in joy for God's love
-I see God in the little things
-I cannot help but to mention God in nearly all my conversations
-Satan attacks me
-I look back and evaluate recent (or not so recent) happenings in my life. [This friend noted that we don't always see God's will in the midst of everything, yet He is sovereign]

Isn't this a statement/question you want to be able to finish with a flourish? 

How would you answer this question? 

If you aren't in the center of God's will, would you consider trying to find a way there - or letting Him lead you there?  I feel like it is completely worth it... and have learned and re-learned that being in the center of God's will is truly the best place to be.
 

This is a great question to ask as well as a great question to answer.