Thought So!

Apparently…We Have Not Yet Arrived

When our kids were toddlers (I guess with a 5-yr. span between the 1^st and the 4^th , they couldn’t all have been toddlers at the same time—must have just seemed like it) someone told me, “This is the easy age—wait until they’re teens.”   While waiting for more hair to grow in so I could pull it out again, I thought, Why are you telling me that?  Do you want to watch me implode, or something? Thanks to those earlier years, I have a matching set of bags under my eyes, and I never need to carry a map with me—I just follow the veins on my legs.  Yes, they were wonderful years.  No, they were not easy.  Often I was out at sea, sinking in toddlerism, while my kids were on shore, blithely climbing onto the counter to reach the knife set on top of the fridge.

Teen years are different.  It’s like someone slaps a mirror to your face and says, “Remember this person about 20 yrs. ago?  O.K., now be a parent.”  As you gaze into the steamy mirror, you can really see yourself in your kids.  It’s not a pretty sight.

Some days, after peeling ourselves off the floor for the 5^th time, all we can do is learn, hope, and trust.  Just when we think we have arrived as a parent, we are again humbled by our weaknesses.  From that position, we are then ready to look up to Christ, and to, once again, claim His daily strength as our own.

     “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” James 4:10

Next week’s session: “All those parents who still feel like they’re someone’s child, please stand.” 

© Thought So!

 

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Are You Losing It?

A recent newspaper article told of a woman and boy crashing their minivan:

"RCMP say the driver left the roadway and struck a tree in the centre median before losing control."

Her injuries were not life-threating.  (I realize that the above sentence should have been rewritten, but it gave me something to think about).  I wondered what had happened to that woman in her day leading up to the crash.

There are days, and then there are days-we've all had them.  One minute you're hurtiling through the day, with a to-do list that would fill a roll of toliet paper.  Suddenly, you’re in the median, your radiator hugging a tree, thinking, This is it.  This is the last straw.  I have had it.  I’ve got company coming in one hour.  I have no idea what to feed them.  I went to the bank, but left all my documents at home.  I had to take a rain check on the one sale item I wanted at the store.  My library books are overdue, but I don’t even know where they all are.  I’m late to pick up my kids at school.  My two- yr.- old is screaming for a bottle.  All I was trying to do was put on a little lipstick without even looking in the mirror.  I’m not getting out of this car.  It’s quiet here with the traffic swooshing by. When they come for me, I will tell them that they can put away their Jaws of Life, thank you very much, but I am not moving. They can bring me a cup of hot tea, get a bottle for my screaming child, phone my company and cancel, pick up my kids, and I’m just going to sit here and relax.

If we rewind our day, we can usually see that we left little or no time to consult with the Lord about our to-do list (besides, who has time, right?).  Wrong answer.  Telling the Lord what we’re going to accomplish that day, with or without His help, is going to derail your whole day.  You may even get “things” done, but will they be with His help and blessing?  And who gets the glory then?

So, don't plan to "lose it”.  Seek the Lord first, ask for His direction, wisdom, strength, help (and rest!). Ask that, whatever you do that day, He would get the glory.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 62:5, 6

© Thought So!

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