Posts made in September, 2009
More than a Yellow Backpack
Chapter 1:
Monday I got a new yellow backpack. All at once going to class became exciting because I got to line my pencils in the pockets and slip my computer into the built-in case. Though I’m sure no one noticed my new toy, I felt the newness close to my back all afternoon and I couldn’t help but skip a little.
This backpack, I immediately learned, is a few inches wider than my other. I knocked it on every doorframe that first day, and people acted as if I should be embarrassed. I didn’t mind though, because I had a new yellow backpack. It’s probably the first one since kindergarten. A spark was lit for the mundane as the child within me perked up.
On Tuesday I spilt a cup of coffee in the side pocket (I really need to work on biking with coffee). By day Wednesday and Thursday the newness became overshadowed by what was held inside—textbooks, notes, homework, and essentially a call to study. Even yellow cannot make that list sunny.
Today I’m going to walk as if I have something better than a coffee-free, brand-new yellow backpack. I’m walking in light of knowing Jesus, and that adds more than a skip to my step. It adds joy to being alive, hope for a future, a love for the day and maybe even a jump to top it off.
Friday.
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CommentSomething New
The story is unwavering and indispensable. The accompanying paintings can be traced back to a benevolent hand orchestrating the tiniest sketches and grandest murals. For the background music, the one missing note on the piano completes the chord that can then be replicated through each of the octaves, completing the melody and leaving my ears yearning for more. The priceless photographs teleport me to those certain moments that will be forever etched in my mind, and they remind me why my daydreams seem to find their way back there.
An over-the-shoulder look at life brings motivation to complacency and a passion to indifference. Looking back I see all the dots are more than connected—they are woven together with skill and art. I see that all the ends are tied with precision though the completion may have tinged a bit. In my memory, I look at life with a backstage pass– I can sneak a peak behind the curtain to reveal that the Lord’s ways are certainly not my ways. But they are perfect.
The story is being written now. I’m in on the action— the smiles, heartbreaks, the joys, the struggles, the laughs—I’m the character in forming, the plot in the making, and the ah-ha moment on the last page.
I don’t want to wait until the end to say the story is beautiful. I want to capture the moments along the way. That is why I’m going to write.
The end will show the story, though now when I’m writing I won’t yet have my backstage pass.
Welcome. Read along.
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CommentHey There
In a matter of days I'm going to marry my college sweetheart Clayton. I'll be the resident chaplain at a girls dormitory this year... which will add a few quirks to our first year of marriage. I've been adopted into Texas culture and I keep Sonic in business. I blog about faith and the struggles with faith. My first name is Jane; I'm Caroline.
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To my single friends, I just posted a cute picture of Clayton and I on Facebook. 10 minutes later we were sitting in my driveway talking about how his stress was overwhelming me and how he was stressed because I was overwhelmed. Dumb. […]
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