Beauty

"beauty for ashes"

Isaiah 61:3

Ever have one of those mornings where everything seems to go wrong?  We had one of those on vacation last week.

While we try to be flexible when it comes to our schedule on vacation, you have to have a plan, right?

Well, nothing went according to plan.  We got a late start leaving the house, because Awesome Girl wasn't feeling good.  "But that's okay.  We still have plenty of time to do everything..."

We had planned to go to two places ~ the Lyndon B Johnson Library and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower garden ~ and then meet family and friends for dinner.  The Library and the Garden were both near each other, on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, so once we did the 90 minute drive to get to Austin, we'd have four hours to visit both places.

But then the 90 minute drive turned into a 140 minute drive because of the traffic.

But that's okay.  We had snacks in the car, so we'd just grab a quick lunch and head to our first destination ~ the wildflower garden.

We chose to go to the garden first, because my Awesome Girl just loves to take pictures of flowers, and we wanted her to have plenty of time to take all the pictures she wanted. 

But when we thought we were close, and we asked the Navigation System for help, we discovered we really weren't that close.  It was actually several miles away.  Back in the direction we'd come.

Sigh....

So off we drove, back through the traffic, to visit the wildflower garden.  Only to find that the cars and parking situation were nuts!  Turns out we'd somehow managed to choose to visit on the busiest day of the year ~ the day of their plant sale.

So we drove around until we found a parking place, then headed in.  We were starving, so we ate a quick lunch in the little cafe.  Then we headed out for our Awesome Girl to start taking pictures.

Which she did for several minutes.

Until the battery in the camera died.

And we didn't have a spare.

Well that was about all I could take.  I'd been looking forward to this for my daughter, and I was so disappointed that it was not turning out to be a fun day for her.

And then I realized that we had a choice ~ sulk and gripe and complain about all that went wrong, or give it over to Him, and let Him turn our attitudes around.  And I thought about this verse from Isaiah, and the phrase "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning".  And I started praying for Him to make something beautiful out of this day that was so frustrating.  Not so much for me, but for my girl.  And when I realized how much I wanted it, I realized that it mattered that I wanted it.  That God could make something beautiful for me, but only if I chose to see it that way.

Sometimes I think we make a choice to keep dwelling on the difficult, the painful, the frustrating.  We choose to call our friends and share our struggles with an attitude of "woe is me". 

The rest of our day went well.  The Apple of my Eye had the idea to use an outlet in the gift store to let the battery recharge enough for my girl to take some more pictures.  Then we bought some chocolate  ;)   Then we enjoyed a scenic drive to the restaurant my in-laws had recommended for dinner ~ and it was wonderful. 

My girl took some beautiful pictures, and the garden was a pleasant place to visit.  Not to mention the joy of spending a whole day with my family.  So while the day itself wasn't perfect, the memories will be.

~ "to comfort all who mourn,

to console those who mourn in Zion,

to give them beauty for ashes,

the oil of joy for mourning,

the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" ~

Isaiah 61:1-3

And only God can do that!