Whispers of steam.
Whispers of steam waving off a cup of frothy chai with milk, half-eaten fruit muffin at its side. I sit and contemplate why I'm here.
Not here, downtown; I know why there. Oil change and free tire rotation take an hour, so I must kill time in the local coffee shop. No, I mean why I'm here, as in what I was really put here to do. Be a mother, a wife? Enjoy life and help others gain eternal life, too? I may be called to do these things, but what was I really created to accomplish?
Perhaps the answer is this: I was created to be the best ME there is, a warm, responsive, giving, beautiful, vibrant, hopeful, caring, compassionate, peaceful, helpful, intelligent, thoughtful, hospitable, considerate, loving, affectionate, passionate, seductive, worshipful, holy, spiritual, friendly ME. Maybe that alone is making the world a better place, if only in the lives of a few. Maybe being the very best ME I can be is my most accomplished masterpiece.
Am I to be remembered as a beautiful, wonderful ME, captured in the memory and hearts of those I've loved and cherished like a wood-framed portrait of a dazzling lavender gladiola? I can't seem to keep my eyes off the one here in the shop, its bright, colorful petals aforeground against a sea of dark and sundry greens. Am I, like my frothy tea, to spread my warmth out to the colder world around me, whispers of my heart and spiritual gifts steaming in waves toward those who need it, and at the right times they need it? Is everyone to catch the fragrance of joy as I pass them in life, a scent as delicious as a fresh-baked blueberry muffin?
I am, and they are! Through Christ, I am set free to be ME. I am free to love, to give, to instruct, to correct and be corrected, free to be good. I am free to count my blessings, to be happy, disappointed, and free to cast all my cares on God, who made me free. I am free to love Him and be my best ME. That's what He gave me when He saved me, and it is enough (Ephesians 2:10).
Funny how I always thought living my life had to culminate in some big accomplishment. I never realized living my life in freedom as God created it and as it reflects His glory is the big accomplishment!
I'm glad I stopped in here. Seems my tires weren't the only things that needed rotating.
—Ruthie Counter, March 25, 2011