Page 48 of There I Find Hope

Except, I do make candy some too. That’s my favorite job. That’s kind of like my love child. Time in the kitchen, creating things. I haven’t done that much since Blake passed, and I didn’t do it a whole lot before. It wasn’t profitable. Plus, Mom needed help.

But my friend and I were talking about what we wanted to do with our lives and how we wanted them to count. I kind of feel like I can be a bigger blessing to people if I made candy for them. You know, making them smile. Although, I suppose it’s a blessing to anyone to have a clean toilet too.

That just doesn’t seem quite as romantic. Not to mention, I love making candy, and I hate scrubbing toilets. So there’s that.

All right. Please write back, giving more specifics. Give me a picture to think of you as you work. Unless of course my assessment of you with your feet propped up on your desk was accurate?

Your friend,

Lover of the lake

Chapter 19

Dear Lover of the lake,

I laughed at your idea that I sit at my desk with my feet propped up.

At least I was working with one hand. Or maybe two—was that a business call I was on while I held the phone to my ear?

Teasing you just a little.

My days are different. As I’m sure yours are, although I suppose if you’re cleaning at a bed-and-breakfast, there’s only so much variety you can have.

For me, I might be at the office in Chicago one day, on the field watching a job another day, and I might be taking a trip to France or Germany on another. I have a trip coming up.

I don’t really like to travel though. I don’t like to be stuck in an airplane for hours on end. Somehow, the crying babies are always seated right beside me. Or behind me. Or in front of me.

Actually, I don’t really mind the crying babies, but I do mind not being able to move. It’s terrible to get a middle seat on a transatlantic flight. Trust me. I’ve been there.

As for the things I actually do in my business, there’s a lot of different things. Maybe that was why I was vague. I can give you all the nitty-gritty, but it would probably bore you. I work a lot in commercial properties. So, I don’t build private houses or handle stocks and bonds for individuals. I suppose it’s easier to tell you what I don’t do than what I do.

But I guess I’ve always felt that it’s more important who a person is than what they do. So many times, we’re defined by what we do, we use that as part of our identity, and then, when something changes, or when we’re not successful in our business or personal lives, we’re devastated.

Did you see yourself as a mother? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but when you lost your son, you lost your identity.

I think that’s why it’s so important for us to see ourselves as children of God. That should be our identity as someone who is loved by God, who was bought by God with blood. Through death. All those things describe me. I think they probably describe you as well. Maybe that’s the more important thing? Do you agree?

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