Such strange things that  my  Goldi likes to collect. There is a small flowery suitcase, I once had as a kid belonging to my daughter now with a collection of stuff. It includes a princes card,  a couple of Thumbelina like dolls, a plate that once sat on my dollhouse kitchen table, a tooth box, pennies, and countless contents keep overflowing and trickling out. Some of the clutter is so meaningless like several pieces of paper with one scribble on the side. Three broken angels that she won’t let me fix. A very small “what do you even call it” longs to be easily lost by me! Things saved for some sort of “just in case time.”

I have thrown away and rearranged to clear up the clutter and make her room more presentable. But then I get the ultimate shriek and groan. “Where is it? That’s mine!” A missing piece or a change is not acceptable. These are her treasures.  Goldidemands that I treat them as such. I am trying to clean and purge while she attempts to accumulate and clutter.

“Do not conform to this world, instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Keywords and phrases sticking out in this Cluttery World- renew your mind, and be transformed. This verse speaks volumes for me in this now of life.

If I drew a picture of her mind needing renewal it would be as overloaded as that flowery suitcase. All the sighs, sounds, textures, and smells bombard her in one moment. She is trying to make sense of all the clutter in this world she comes into contact. It’s a constant struggle. There are useless coping attempts of broken up jargon, flitting around,  and repeated speech. All of which lead to frustration. Her therapy sessions help her to Motor Plan her way to a renewed mind. Her Therapeutic Listening at home is also somehow a pathway to a kind of peace.

We went to a local farm where everybody seems to go to pick strawberries. Prior to the trip, I showed pictures and told some information. This was a new experience for us as a family. We arrived and my daughter began to take things in:
“Where are the kids?” she questions first. “Are we going to pick the strawberries?”

We walk along in the tall scratchy grass. A rooster crows and the hayride tractor revs up. Kids floating around and moms are shouting out this and that. She took all in. We ride on the hayride and she is calling out “To the strawberry patch!” She is wound up. Everyone notices and stares. She is striving to make sense of it all as best she can.

We climb down from the wagon and find ourselves in the middle of a HUGE patch of strawberries. “Let’s see what is under here.” I say guiding her to lift up the rough green leaves. “Oh it’s a strawberry!” I show her how to pick it. She tries with reservation.
” Pull gently.” I say  “There, see a red berry! ”
She tries a few times more.
“Mom! Look the hayride is ready to go!” she cries out several times as I speedily try to fill up my container and hers.
She holds her strawberries with pride. Amazed at the fullness.
“Try one” I say hoping to add a new fruit to her diet.
She is not willing.

We return to the main buildings which include a barn of petting animals. The stink is strong and the animals though penned up, are as close to her as the nose on her face. I hold her and while squeezing me she says “Oh they are so cute.” After a small cup of ice cream, she is ready to go home. Poor dad and brother are still interested in feeding one more goat. But sister has experienced an overload of senses and her mind needs a rest.

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So much to make sense of this world. Each experience brings new stimuli. How I wish she were transformed so that her mind was capable of organizing and making sense of things. Then she would pet the animals, pick more strawberries, feed the animals, mingle with the kids, and eat the delicious sweet berries I just know she would love. But her mind is in process of being renewed. She is not yet transformed. So what she experienced at the strawberry farm was all that she needed to experience for her own perfect renewal. She knows now about some things to expect and she will expect them again sometime.

Until then, then she receives therapies that aide in the transformation. She is making gains. More so, God works in her mysteriously in ways I can’t comprehend. Through His ways, she is being renewed day by day through His grace. We too are being renewed day by day and hopefully freeing us as she from the “clutter” of this world.  She will one day as we all will be- transformed. Transformation through the renewal of your mind- more yet to come.