The other night a very good friend of mine shared her heart on life lessons learned from caring for aged parents. She is a graphic designer by trade so not only did she eloquently express her experiences verbally but supplied a fabulous color coordinated chart conveying her message. Instead of overwhelming me with details, she brought order and clarification to life's seasons. The message could have been guilt producing but it left me with a sense of purpose.

I do believe God is a God of order and patterns. My friend captured this truth well.

God speaks and brings order to the chaos. He means to do the same with my life. I continually seek for my "fit" in the pattern. Like placing an elusive jigsaw puzzle piece into the puzzle, finding my place in a day creates a sense of satisfaction. Not to suggest I move robotically through life looking for the exact situation I should show up for, but I try to continually sense where my presence can be used best.

If you take the right attitude, it can be like a treasure hunt. "I wonder what He has for me today?" For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.(Eph. 2:10)

So anyway, her talk helped with the questions of "what am I here for" and "what do I do next?"

Trying to figure it out,
Caroline

My oldest son is getting married this summer. He reconnected with a wonderful girl from his college days. The courtship was short and sweet and now the wedding is a month away.

I decided to attempt some bonding time with my daughter who has been going through a rough time of late. Shopping with a teen brings a whole new atmosphere to the search for a wedding dress. MOG's are supposed to wear beige and fade into the background but I don't really want to do that. Not that I want to steal attention away from the bride ... I can't because she is lovely, but wearing beige is not in my color palette.

My fashion savvy teen found a cool dress. Its very non-traditional. So non-traditional that I fear the bride won't like the dress. I guess we will see.

Maybe I should have a back-up beige-like frock, waiting in the wings. The relationship navigation begins now.

Chic in Black,
Caroline

I cannot do whatever I like. There are laws in the universe, set in place by God to keep things in balance. Much as I'd like to live carefree, it won't happen. Can't happen. How arrogant of me to think life provides a canvas for selfish dreams. Shallow souls come from living without restraint.

I desire a deep and rich soul. That said, I will never make all the right decisions, say no to all the bad things, hold precious all things worthy. I will likely make the beautiful profane.

Yet, the consequences of my mistakes mold my soul. Life continues to verify, even if I do A and B, C may not follow. That was my original understanding, my early learning. A plus B will equal C. Not so.

Something else determines C.

Life is more about the doing of A and B without any expectation of C or D or ... any other outcome. This realization should reduce my stress levels but there is a comfort in thinking life has formulas. I am sad to say goodbye to the illusion of control.

Time to go do A and B.

Caroline