Make up and smell the roses.

A little update: In June I wrote about my break-up with coffee. We made up when I discovered the truth in Caribou Coffee's slogan, "Life is short. Stay awake for it." Now every morning, I wake up and smell not only the coffee, but the promise that each new day holds. Coffee is my morning-person friend who gives me the physical energy that I need to live each day to the fullest. Whether you are a coffee addict like me, or you prefer tea, or you are like a friend of mine who likes to add a little coffee to his sugar every morning, most of us have something of a morning routine that helps us survive the day. This is especially important for me as I try to figure out what God wants for the rest of my life. I am itching to leave my hometown and see the world, to find a job and begin a new and exciting life. There are so many possibilities, but while I try to solve the mystery, I want to enjoy the little things as well.

Yesterday I returned from a little road-trip to visit some of my good friends who still live near the university. While I was there, I finally made peace with an old friend who I have not spoken with much in the last year. It was exactly what I needed. Afterwards, I went to the chapel to pray and was pleased to see a bouquet of white roses on the altar. I smelled their sweetness and smiled. It felt liked I had woken up from a bad dream and now smelled the promise of new life in these roses.

There will always remain a little sadness and regret for the time I lost with my friend, but I no longer want to look back at those times. I have learned and grown from those difficult days, and God has helped me pick up the pieces, guiding me as I struggled to put them back together in His order. The joy and sweetness I found when I ordered my heart according to His will soothes any lingering pain. Freedom has never tasted so good--even better than coffee! And even better than the promise of a new day that comes with a fresh cup of coffee, God promises a new phase of life with these roses.

The possibilities are endless for this next phase of my life as a dreaming college grad and artist. It reminds me of a book I read when I was younger. The book, written by Sharon Creech, is called Bloomability, a word one of the characters (whose first language is Japanese) invents to say 'possibility.' It seems to me to be a more accurate translation of Jesus' words in Matthew 19:26: "With God, all things are possible." Possibility simply means something that can be done, whereas bloomability implies that something can be done, and then it can grow and bloom into something even more beautiful. When we have God in our lives and let Him write the story of our hearts, we spend our days planting seeds of love, seeking and doing His will in the little things. He takes these little seeds and, by grace like rain and the light of His love, they bloom.

So make up and smell the roses. The bloomabilities are endless, and God is dying to pour His love on your life!