Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,135

laughed. “I like that.”

“Everyone is on this journey of becoming the butterfly God made them to be. When you see someone struggling, treat them like a vulnerable caterpillar who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Help them if you can. Bless them and move on if you can’t. Either way, give them to God. When you see someone in the process, don’t shut down the process because they aren’t who they can be yet. Celebrate that they’ve made it this far and encourage them to go farther. And all the while, work like crazy to learn God’s ways so you can become the butterfly you were meant to be. Pray for them, love them, and work on you. This isn’t a competition. It isn’t a race. We’re all in the process of becoming. Give yourself grace for where you are. Give others grace for where they are.

“And while you’re at it, learn to be who you are without apologizing for it. Don’t let everybody else determine who you are supposed to be. That’s between you and God. Don’t concern yourself with what they think about you. Do you. Be you. And keep working every day to become a better version of you. When you do that, God can work miracles with you and through you. Trust me. I’ve seen it happen.”

“Oh. Are you ready?” Clara asked when Taylor came out.

“Yeah. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“That’s okay.” Clara leaned closer. “I know all about marathon sessions with Merel, trust me.”

Together, they walked out into the sunshine.

“So how are you doing, for real?” Clara asked as they walked down the little hill to her car. “Things happened pretty fast last night.”

“Yeah,” Taylor said as she slid into the little car. “I thought last night that this was bad, bad, bad, but now I’m not so sure.” She thought about it and took a breath. “Are you doing anything now?”

“Taking you home?” Clara asked with half-a-smile.

“Besides that.”

“No. Why?”

“I’ve got a couple things I need to get done. Do you mind?”

“Your wish is my command.”

By the time they were back at the guys’ house making supper, Taylor was deep into telling Clara all about quantum thinking and flow. The police and the housing department were worrying about Hannah who had turned up claiming it was the guy she was with, not her, that had caused the destruction. Who knew if that was true or not? Taylor had better things to worry about and work on.

“So, it’s like my mom,” Clara said. “She sews and she gardens, and she loves both of them. They are her happy place.”

“Right, it’s where you relax and things just… work,” Taylor said. “Like you and cooking.”

“Cooking?” Clara asked in surprise. “Wow. I never thought about it like that.”

“Really? Every time I see you, you’re feeding people,” Taylor said. “I just figured that was your thing.”

“Well, I guess it is my happy place. Ryan likes it too so there’s that.”

“I keep thinking about what Merel said about working to become the best version of yourself. I see you do that with your cooking, and I see Yoli doing that with the psychology stuff and of course, Lily with painting. I keep wondering what my thing is.”

“It’s not doctoring?” Clara asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. But that’s so far away.”

“Well, what do you love to do that you would do if there were no limits or roadblocks?”

“Hm.” Taylor stirred the gumbo slowly. “I like to paint, but I’m not very good at it. I love to read, but that’s a waste of time.”

“Ho… Hold up there. Why is reading a waste of time?”

Taylor sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know. My dad always told me I should do something more productive. He wanted me to read medical stuff. I wanted to read romances and fantasies.”

“What’s wrong with those?” Clara asked.

“I don’t know. I guess they’re just not very… important.”

“Romance and thinking outside-the-box aren’t important?” Clara asked. “So what’s up with all the movies they make all the time about those things? If they’re not important, why do people flock to the theaters?”

“Theaters?” Taylor slammed into something major. “Oh, no. My paper… I forgot all about my paper.”

“Okay? What paper?” Clara asked.

However, Taylor said nothing as she leaned on the counter and thought through all of it. Her sparse notes were in her backpack in Greg’s room, but her laptop was in a non-working state on her dorm room floor. Worse, she’d thought she would watch the movie tonight to get more detailed notes.