No one will ever use the term cooking and Julie together in the same sentence; however, I am fairly adept at following a recipe, but the directions must be very specific and there cannot be any instructions such as “a dab of this” or “a pinch of that”, that is, if you want the item to be tasty. There is a good reason someone long ago invented measuring cups and spoons so that Mammaw’s recipe could be duplicated without the angst of deciphering the meaning of unspecific terms. Using these amazing tools becomes especially relevant in my home when attempting to make southern buttermilk biscuits because my bowl is not the same size as the bowl in my parent’s home. When mom or dad attempts this culinary feat with random pours of milk and indiscriminate amounts of flour trying to match the batter from “their” bowl, who knows what the result will be. And don’t even ask about cutting in the correct amount of shortening with a fork!

Let’s move on to another baking adventure to help you visualize my attempt to organize the last eight months of research and reading. Using the analogy of mixing the batter for a cake, my hope is that you can relate to my dilemma. Standing in my kitchen, the ingredients are all arrayed on the counter, ready to be placed in the mixing bowl, but does the order matter? What’s the consistency of the batter supposed to look like? I see the photo on the cake mix box, so I have an idea of the end result, but how does it all mix together properly for a tasty, delicious cake? Am I using the best brand of butter? Are the eggs good quality? My best option is just to follow the sequence of directions that Pillsbury determined long ago was best, but what if there were only ingredients with no instructions?

As a physical educator, I understand the importance of sequence as one must learn athletic skills in a sequence. One cannot master playing whiffle ball if they first do not acquire the skill of batting (or have a ball well-wrapped in duct tape). In mastering anything new, it helps to follow a sequence or order. A writer of a mystery novel must be diligent to plan the plot where information unfolds to maintain the interest of the reader. As an organized ISTJ personality, I will follow point A to point B. Order, structure, and sequence are my friends; however, at the moment, it appears as if all the ingredients to helping emerging adults live a flourishing life are displayed on the counter but there are no measuring tools or directions to follow.

So, with notebooks full of research on mentoring, life span, careers, vocations, life calling, generational theory, spiritual development, relational equity, and more…I’m left floundering with how to order the content to be useful and not just more knowledge in my brain. From the first conversation in January with my colleague Laci McRee to a simple online search today, I feel that God is orchestrating this recipe to be a tasty delight in the end, but He has yet to provide the instructions for the order of ingredients. Therefore, I ask for your patience and guidance as we navigate this pilgrimage of a flourishing life together and I invite your input along the journey. After all, this entire blog is about relationships with others, so your recipes and directions just might be the perfect touch to creating something amazing!