I panicked today…We take Katey to college in 2 and 1/2 weeks.

I didn’t panic for the reason you are thinking, I panicked because I only own crocs and flip flops. I only own old capris. I own t-shirts and Guatemalan jade jewelry. I don’t even wear a wedding ring. On a normal day these things don’t bother me, but today it hit me. I am going to a weekend orientation with my daughter at her new college and I am going to look like a missionary.

This might sound silly to some, and shallow to others, but it was terrifying to me. I spent the evening trying to figure out how I can buy myself a pair of shoes on Zappos and send them to her school before she even moves in. I need to get them as soon as we arrive and put them on before meeting anybody new.

Really. That is how I spent my evening.

Then I thought, I will Google a Godly woman’s devotional to calm my craziness. Up pops a beautiful young woman with a perfectly lit picture, professionally done hair and beautiful nails. She happened to have gone on a mission trip this summer for a week building chicken coops. Yet she didn’t want to blog about any of her stories because she is planning on writing them in a book.

Really? After one week? A book?

So, here I am, unable to sleep and God meets me where I should have turned first, in my favorite book, Philippians.

“Let your gentleness be evident to all.”
Not your shoes, or your nails, or your new book that you wrote on your one week mission trip….. your gentleness. I know I have that. I have to find it, it is here somewhere.

It goes on to say,  “The Lord is near, Do not be anxious about anything”
Wow. As if it were written for me at this very moment.

So I am going to pack my gentleness in my carry on and rejoice in the fact that He is near and I am going to choose to not be anxious about anything.

I will be ok, but it sure would help a lot if someone could just meet me at the airport with a pair of cute sandals.

What do you need to pack in your carry on?