What's the right combination?

Found objects can be thought provoking.

Holding an object in your hand can cause you to stop and think, ponder and muse. Sometimes my mental machinations can be over the top, seemingly contrived to those who are not comfortable inside my head. Be that as it may, follow the bouncing ball, or maze of meanderings, at your own risk.

While I was tidying the garage yesterday, I found this combination lock. It belonged to Carol, my friend who committed suicide a few years ago. So, not only do I not have a combination to open this, I have no Carol.

Carol struggled to find workable solutions for the challenges she faced. She often did hit on the right combinations, but then circumstances would change and she'd have to rethink everything.

You might have heard of winning combinations, workable combinations, tasty combinations, boxing combinations, impossible combinations . . . .

You might have contemplated the right combinations of play and work, social and study, time alone and time with others, exercise and rest, talking and listening, bass and treble, fiction and non-fiction, carbs and proteins, oil and vinegar, milk and cereal.

Coaching
New Zealand is rugby mad right now with the World Cup being played here and only four teams remaining in contention. Injuries are causing the coaching staffs to rethink their combinations, to see what will work with some missing players or against different opponents.

Cultivating
I've been researching a different kind of combination recently as we attempt a community garden at our university. We'd like to keep it chemical free which calls for companion planting and attracting the right insects to prey on the wrong insects who will arrive uninvited.

Connecting
Spirituality is the venue for my most passionate pursuit of the right combination. Understanding that each of us are individuals with specific and unique personalities, giftings, love languages, etc., it follows that we will express ourselves differently as we contemplate our Creator or our mortality. Different combinations of worship, service, contemplation or fellowship will be right for different people.

Cooking
Soups are a favourite culinary challenge of mine. I like to see what works, sometimes starting with a recipe, but more likely just opening the pantry door and saying, "Let's see . . . ." My dad says my grandmother, his mother-in-law, used to do that with the fridge; dumping all the leftovers in together and calling it vegetable soup.

Soups are better for the combinations of ingredients, even if it's as simple as a pumpkin soup with coconut cream or a bit of curry. Different combinations of veggies, meats, herbs and sauces make the possibilities nearly innumerable . . . . more so even than finding the exact combination for a lock which is somewhere around 800,ooo possible combinations.

We need a lock for the community garden, but the one I found is probably not weatherproof, so I won't bother myself with trying to unlock it. There are far more important combinations to work out today, far more important dilemmas to be solved, far more important solutions to be found. I think I'll go back to finding out what will keep the pukekos out of the capsicum.