maggie moo's

In high school, and actually still today, my friends' and my favorite place for ice cream was Maggie Moo's.  There was just something about sitting out in the humidity of a southern summer with the sweet taste of that half-liquid dairy dream cooling your palette while the rod-iron porch chairs imprinted a waffle pattern on the back of your legs.  It was our place to unwind from our "stressful" summer days of part-time jobs and sunburns.  The hardest part of the night was always picking out your mix-ins.  Oh, the choices! I went a few weeks back with a few of my friends from college. One of the girls was debating what she wanted to get in her ice cream, but didn't want to overwhelm the flavor.  She wanted to get the perfect concoction.  It's such a hard life making decisions between M&Ms or caramel sauce.  

I have made a lot of "life" decisions lately.  The days of a twenty-something seem to constantly be spent thinking about tomorrow: what will further your career, where do you want to settle down, with whom do you want to settle down, what will be best for your future family?  We want to set ourselves up for success.  I've made a lot of these choices lately.  I've moved my whole life around based on some very distinct missions God outlined for me to complete.  And I was happy to do so.  The thing I love about God is that He's as hard to predict as a Tennessee Spring day.  You never know when a curve ball is going to come, and you wished you didn't wear your rain boots on a bright and sunny day.  Then, there are those moments that He shows us love, and give us a choice between coffee or birthday cake ice cream.  Neither is wrong, and both satisfy a sweet tooth.  

I'm learning to embrace those opportunities.  To see that He loves me enough that sometimes He wants me to just do what I want (within reason, of course) every once in a while.  He is my Father, after all.  And every dad wants his daughter to learn, grow, achieve and obey, but sometimes he just wants to see his little girl smile.  When given opportunities that you don't see a distinct path that God lays out, and neither choice is wrong, God has given you discerment and wisdom as one of His children.  Choose what brings a flutter of joy to your heart, and makes you want to spin like Cinderella to see your Daddy smile.