So

Once upon a time...

There was a cabbage. [what better way to begin a story??] This cabbage had waddled (rolled really) through four years of college. It had been great fun and the cabbage was all the greener and leafier because of it, but she had finally rolled out of college and that was that.

Now beyond all expectation certain kindly vegetables had granted the cabbage some funds for rolling out of college. These were unexpected, but very welcome. And now she had a choice, what to do with all this funding? Well some went where it needed to go (even a cabbage’s life has expenditures), others she traded to a potato for his ipod touch (he didn’t need it anymore), but when it was all done, she was still in possession of a sizeable fortune... at least for a cabbage, you know.

So the very simplest thing that a simple cabbage could think to do after she rolled out of college, was, quite naturally, to roll some place else.
California, for example.
Yes, there was a thought for you, she could roll to California for a few days vacation, then roll back to her home in Indiana. A perfect idea.

And so the very simple cabbage decided (after some not-so-simple deliberation) that she would in fact go to California at the next available date– Monday sounded good – and take the potato with her (he was her brother after all). They would roll over the Rockies in their cabbagemobile, see the sights of California, and roll back the same way. Simple really.

And... well... that is where the story must pause for the moment, because quite frankly the rest hasn’t happened yet. But don’t worry, we’re sure the cabbage will have some very fun and hopefully not-so-life-threatening adventures with her brother, the potato, and return to tell the tale some day.

Perhaps she will post pictures on the pea bowl during the trip. Perhaps not. But if you don’t hear from her for a while, never fear. Somewhere between you and the Pacific Ocean is a cabbage/potato combination sure to be having fun somewhere. And before they know it (at least hopefully before the potato’s school starts up again!) they will be back.

because...?

Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored,

and

I love you

Isa 43:4



Merry Christmas all

congratulations

The temptation is great to slap up another post that attempts to quantify life in google images... but I must consign that certain moments require the effort of words from people... so here, with no particular forethought from a two-day college graduate, are some words...

I find it strange, at this supposedly auspicious junction, to actually be congratulated. Now naturally I'll accept any amount of random joy and felicitations from my friends & family, but the thought that I've accomplished something truly great is beyond me at this point. As far as I can tell, all I've done for four years is gone to a little state school three miles away, studied, worked some campus jobs, and accomplished what millions of other young adults could have done with probably less grousing. It was my job for 4 years. I was just doing it, and wonder now about all the buzz.

But that's just grousing again. For I forget easily. I forget how I got here. I forget the countless hours (amounting to *days* really, if you think about it) that they have put up with my endless babble about literature or chemistry, or French...
I forget about the dining room table that they let me take over, the cups of hot tea brought to my bedroom, the celebrations that were held each time I finished a semester.
I've forgotten that they supported, prayed, and cheered me to where I am today. They deserve to celebrate this milestone, for they helped bring me here.
And then I forget about the frantic prayers before tests, prayers that were answered... amazingly, wildly beyond my desert. About the agonizing periods of writers block into which came clarity. The moments of fatigue into which came either strength or rest. (How could I forget them??? And is the weakness so far behind me that the congratulations are now really for me?)

And I forget about the times (there were so, so few of them) that I was on the giving, rather than the recieving end, of important information. That someone who was munching their dinner or discussing their homework got a little stab of the gospel into their day. How many times, hundreds... maybe thousands? could I have said something that I didn't? I forget that the God who endures such cowardice still promises bright and beautiful things in the future. That is something to remember, when college is long gone.

Yet it's done. It's over. And in the blink of an eye I am standing with four years of unpayable mercies behind me, and the cheers and encouragements of all around me. Congratulations?? I'm just a little puddle into which He has come along and dumped a load of diamonds. And oh, if I were just worthy of the gift...

But these are all just post-graduation mumblings... a piece of clay with eyes wide at what the Potter has done. And to all the clay's startled misgivings, He simply says in Hosea 14:4, Oh yes

I will love them...
freely.

today's story...

.

thank you God

for stars
and everything between them