I am sitting in a lovely cafe.

 It’s in the lobby of the Omni Hotel in Nashville Tennessee.    

A week ago right this minute I had no idea I would be here in Honky Tonk town a week later.   God has decided I should live a life full of all kinds of surprises.  Some of them not so welcome and others are beyond my joyful expectations.  I know He holds my life in His hands and as I have told you before, I realize it’s best to let Him do His thing.  Even if I don’t right away recognize the good in it.

Back to the story!  

My relatively new friend and kindred spirit is the woman God hand picked before time began, to give birth to and be the nurturing mother of my son’s soon to be wife..  God is like that.  He not only answers prayers as He sees fit and holds people’s lives in His hands.  He spreads the blessing around.  I received a message from this newish friend as I drove East to meet my littlest one.  “So here’s a random question.  how’d you like an adventure?”  Well she had my attention right there seeing as how I usually  like an adventure.  “want to go to Nashville with me next week?”    The short of it is that she has a conference and decided I might be an eligible Travel Buddy.  I put in a request to my husband and before you could sing  

Blame it all on my roots I showed up in boots And ruined your black tie affair

I had a booking on American Airlines.

 It’s been an action packed fun filled adventuresome five days.  

The first night we wandered one of the Must See streets which is just around the corner.   I had no idea what a Honky tonk was before my visit to this cowboy town.  Now I do!  Not sure it has made my life a whole lot more meaningful but it’s one more thing to add to a growing number of facts in my brain.  

Now, one of the reasons my almost inlaw and I are kindred is that we see much of life through the same lens.  A bit naive, a lot conservative with a smattering of mercy thrown in.  There are certain places we just don’t frequent.  Ever.  If you visit Nashville and take a walk along Broadway you will find the street lined with such places as those.  

We did enjoy some of the music coming through the open doorways.  Even poked our heads inside from time to time.  The view was similar in each.  Dark!  A long Bar along one side!  A raised platform at the front filled with mostly men, in boots, jeans and their hands full of guitars.  Not our scene for sure.  Nevertheless, we were open to the possibility of perhaps finding one establishment where we could maybe step INSIDE the door and sing along.  At one,  my TB was heard to say “nope, this is not our kind of bar”.    Ah yes, the laughs were plenty.  We did find a place where the song being sung was one we both new and we ventured inside, ice cream in one hand, camera in the other.  We stood no more than 5 feet inside along the wall and listened and sang and laughed and ate ice cream.  Thinking I should put a dollar or two in the jar at the edge of the platform, I approached the bar.  Yes I did.  I leaned over and the nice young man leaned in to hear my order.  “I don’t want anything to drink”.  I said.  “Ok, but could I at least get you a glass of water”?  He replied.  “Nope”, I said.  “I just want money”.  He looked at me for a minute and then saw the 20 I was holding, nodded.  I put my few bills in the jar, we sang another song and left, laughing.  Laughter is a good medicine, I have been told.  

Yesterday my TB was in meetings in the morning and I ventured down the street and around the corner.   There were no country musicians playing locally and we had been to the grand ole’ opry the night before, so off I went to get tickets to the symphony. 

A beautiful surprise awaited!  We all know that different experiences bring pleasure to individuals of all kinds.  

One of this preacher’s daughters very favorites (Yes I do have a few) is…  

A delicious home made creation fresh from the oven, enjoyed in a beautiful garden.  

Add a fountain of some sort and I have no trouble envisioning what Heaven might be like.  The concerns of life fall away and I find praise falling from my lips.  

Thank you Lord for this little glimpse at your kindness.  Life is not easy.  There is trouble all around.  Sadness, pain, fear, frustration, sickness and yes, even death.  Yet here, right now, in this place, I am resting in you.  I do trust you.  I do know you are the cornerstone of everything.  I do know that you are the beginning and the end.  You are great and greatly to be praised.  You do not owe me anything. Sometimes life isn’t what I want.   I am not entitled to the gifts that leave your hand and touch my heart.  Yet you allow me to know blessing.  Sometimes it is huge.  Miraculous.  Not to be mistaken.  Other times it is a sweet gentle soft whisper that only I can see.  Today is that day and I praise you from a full heart.

That was yesterday’s prayer as I found myself in a small courtyard outside the beautiful Schermerhorn in downtown Nashville Tennessee.  I had happened upon the cafe on the edge of that beautiful building and I opened the door to the wafting smell of baking…something.  As it turns out the something was blueberry scones.  Handmade from scratch and I knew I was about to meet yet another kindred spirit.  It took just a minute to get a glimpse of this woman.  Her name is Meg and she was my friend immediately.  I think I realized it for sure when I asked “what is your soup today?” and she answered with a smile, “I haven’t decided yet.  I need to see what I have back there”.  Yep!  I smiled.  She makes skirts out of vintage fabric.  We chatted and I took my scone and latte to a bench in the courtyard.  It was one delicious offering I tell you.

 I didn’t know Meg and yet she shared hospitality with me yesterday morning.  I went back and thanked her and gave her a card with the name of this blog on it.  I invited her to read it and asked if I could take her picture.  She said yes and smiled.

 I am sorry it is a bit blurry but you get the idea.  She was kind and gifted in hospitality.  She maybe doesn’t know it.  Perhaps it is just something she does because she enjoys it.  Quite possibly she bakes fresh scones and cookies and makes delicious lattes because it is a job and she needs the money.  It could be that she is an entrepreneur and some other business person gave her this opportunity to share and earn and enjoy.  Whatever the case, God blessed me through her welcoming on a warm day in a cowboy town and I will remember her, maybe for the rest of time.

We are heading for home in just a few minutes.  Life is an adventure and this was one mini in the vast encompassing adventurous journey of my life.