In Splendor

"Are you finding what you are looking for?" asked the sales lady.
Peace, world harmony, eternal joy with no more suffering or tears, no more illness, no more struggle....
"Well, no.... I need a bathing suit for my daughter."
"Oh, is she not here?" The sales woman peered around the thirty suits I had in my hand.
"Oh no, you cannot imagine how awful it is if I bring her shopping with me."
"How old is she?"
"13."
"And she lets you pick out her clothes?"
"Well, no, but it is even worse if I bring her. Trust me. She is very picky. And she hates shopping. But she needs a new bathing suit."
"What does she want?"
"No patterns, no frills, nothing fancy like God forbid a shiny bead or ribbon, blues or maybe greens, tankini top and boy shorts bottom, but not the kind that every store sells but the kind with the attached inner brief, and not old persony."
The sales lady sat down and mopped her forehead. "I see your problem."
We gazed disconsolately over the sea of suits before us.
"How will you know what size she is?" asked the woman.
"I try them on and I can guage her size from that pretty accurately. We are close to the same size."
The sales woman cocked an eyebrow.
"This is a most unusual method of shopping for bathing suits."
She let me in the dressing room and I proceeded to try them all on, taking photos of each with my phone camera by pointing it at the mirror as I modeled them. Then I texted the photo home to Asherel.
"Me no likeee!!!!" she wailed. It was almost like having her with me.
"Not those kind of shorts!!! "
"No polka dots or plaids!!!!"
"Can I have candy?"
"Licorice?"
"Chocolate?"

knock knock knock.
"M'am, is everything all right in there? Do you need a new size?"
"No everything is just dandy. I'm just discussing the options with my daughter."
"Oh? Did she decide to join you after all?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. She likes the $200 suit."
"A lovely choice, shall I ring it up for you?"
"Only if you are paying for it."

and so it went....
I spent 3 hours trudging from store to store. I found at least 50 suits I liked, and shoes too, though that was a sinful side trip. ( Mostly because I had not chosen the ideal shoes to walk all day in, and blisters were forming on my heels.) And then in the last store I knew I could manage, I saw a pair of solid blue shorts like she had requested. The matching top was geometric greens and blues, no frills, no ribbons, no horrifying bows.
"Eureka, I have found it!" I texted to Asherel. (and, on sale, and much much less than I would have been  willing to spend by that point in the pilgrimage.)
"Found what?" she texted back.
I sent the photo.
"I don't hate it," she wrote.
Good enough!

I know now why God gave children to us. He can clothe the lovely peach tree however He sees fit. The peach  tree doesn't throw off her blossoms and decide pink is just for sissies.He knew children would try even His eternal patience.

When I came home and Asherel tried on the suit, and liked it, we gathered the dogs and Arvo and went off to see the blossoming peach orchard and walk around a beautiful lake. The forest was slowly being adorned with lime green buds, small yellow flowers along the marsh, sunshine sparkling on water. Nothing I had seen in the mall could top that.

Matthew 6: 28-29
   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.