When Chaos Reigns

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a keepsake as: something that you keep to help you remember a person, place, or event: a memento or souvenir. While granddaughter stayed with us over Christmas I urged husband to retrieve a large plastic storage bin filled with my own keepsakes. I had anticipated unveiling these souvenirs for a few years now having saved my precious items since daughter outgrew desire to spend time with these lovely ladies. And a few men. Lifting the lid, a musty odor wafted in the air and I wondered at the wisdom of stowing away these items, untouched, neglected. Eager to play with granddaughter, musty smell and all, I stifled urge to clamp lid tight.

While digging our hands into piles of Barbie clothes memories washed over me and I barely noticed the dust bunnies hanging off some of the clothes we chose. Will she understand the labor of love? The effort it took my mother to sew many of these elfin dresses, jackets, shirts. We left the box out during her stay, and occasionally she would sit and take a doll out to play with, to dress, to place mismatching boots on. Can you believe Grandma once snapped that shirt together, just so?

She did not seem to mind all that chaos inside the plastic bin; a balding Ken, one headless Barbie, shoes scattered about and hot-pink high-heels that caused small girl's eyebrows to point together, concentrating she was to adorn those arched pointed feet. I tried bringing order to all the accessories, placing them in doll-size bowling bag. She dumped them out, back into bin. Watching her efforts my thoughts spooled backward, to chaotic home of my youth, to crowded dinner tables and untidy bedrooms. If this is product of all that chaos then we are reaping great reward. Song lyrics then, they repeated over and over and I wondered if she heard it too, maybe she will have her own song some day. Mental images of Julie Andrews running over verdant green hills singing about her favorite things alternated with my mother painstakingly laboring over Singer sewing machine, thump thump thump of brown pedal on hardwood floor, six children needing her love. When granddaughter gave a soft pat to sofa cushion, inviting me to play dolls with her a few days before they left, my heart beat wild and I knew the mess under plastic lid did not matter through a child's eyes. And after they left for home, airplane soaring high above in wintry open sky, I bent down to pick up one brown plastic miniature boot; it fit perfectly on my index finger. Who puts the chaos back into order? Underneath all the messiness, all resolutions aimed at perfection lies a truth winged with pristine white beauty. When perfection is tossed aside like worn-out Birkenstock's and messiness is moving forward, maybe eyes can focus clear on the One who turns all things for good for those who love Him, even musty plastic storage bins housing treasured keepsakes.

"Before us is a future all unknown, a path untrod; beside us is a friend well loved and known-that friend is God." -Unknown