When things just go right........

This happy girl, Lia, had so much fun using her "Easy Bake Oven" to make this cake with me on Monday.  She is actually quite capable of making REAL cake in the REAL oven, but being able to do this totally on her own was just a great activity for a Monday morning.   I got to "supervise" the entire process and that little cake is actually TWO cakes that are layered into one halfway decent serving of cake.  The entire process took us about an hour by the time we let the Easy Bake oven heat up, cooked two cakes and cooled them off.  During the time that we were busy in the kitchen, Anna was quite happy playing with her beloved "little people".   She is so into imaginative play right now.  It is fun to listen to her talking for each of the little people.  This airplane "talks" and one of the things that it says is that it is "take off time"!  I watched as Anna picked up the plane and flew it around the room!  I just love seeing kids learn as they play.

At the same time, Zeke and Ellie were playing school!  Now this is not so unusual for kids to play school.  What was unusual was that they were playing "HOME SCHOOL"!  Ellie was the teacher and Zeke was the student and Ellie was helping him learn his letters and numbers.  She was also helping him learn to read.  And then, just like Gwen, she was reading to him!

This is quite the accomplishment for a girl who has had a difficult time herself learning to read!  It was so good to stand in another room and hear her read book after book to Zeke, as the teacher of his class! 

Yes, the hours just flew by on Monday and so quickly it was time for lunch and Gwen's return home.  It was one of those days when everything just seemed to go right!  Everyone got along, there were no disagreements, I don't remember one unreasonable request.  Yes, it was just a great day.

Isn't life funny that way?  Sometimes things just "click" and everything seems to go right in your day.  But then just as quickly, everything that you touch seems to fall apart and your day just goes downhill fast.  Last week, I had one of those not so good days.  It started when I got out bed and realized that I was feeling very light headed and dizzy.  Several little annoying things happened before I even left the bedroom - I dropped a bottle of contact solution, spilling out a large amount.  I ran into the foot board of the bed and broke my toenail AGAIN! (Why does it seem that you always manage to hit the same toe over and over?)  Well, you get the idea.  And the rest of the day went pretty much the same way.  One little irritating thing after the other.  But here is the thing -  I didn't stop to realize that I was letting all of this little stuff really get me down.  As a matter of fact, it was actually several days later that I put two and two together and got the message that I had let these small issues become one very large package that I was trying to carry around.   I remember hearing a story about this exact thing!  If you have a small amount of weight gradually added to your back pack, you really don't notice how heavy it is becoming until suddenly, it is very hard to carry and you have a bad back ache!  If you filled up the back pack with all the weight at once, you would never be able to lift it onto your back and would never attempt to carry it all.  

And that is how all those little things can become one really big problem.  You think that they are not bothering you.  You don't really feel the weight of each small thing.  Then another really small thing happens and you realize that you are crushed by the weight of a combined big problem made up of all the small things.  It is the "straw that broke the camels back"!   My take away on this topic is to remember to stop and think before I just let a small thing drop into my backpack.  On that not so good day I had, wouldn't it have helped me to stop and realize that I should take some allergy medicine to help with the dizziness?  If I had,  I might not have run into the bed and hurt my toe!   I also would not have been fighting a headache for the rest of the day.  And I am sure that each small thing was even more annoying to me because of that.  Most of all, I should have just stopped and taken some time to worship and pray.  I am sure that my day would have had a much different outcome if that had been my response.  It's easy to remember to pray when there is a BIG problem, but so easy to forget when it is just a few small issues.  

Yes, it is all about keeping your focus on what is really important. And remembering who can take care of it all!   We can so easily become distracted by life.  All of the small things and the big things that are clammering around us.  I know that I could not get through my days without my times of worship and prayer that remind me to keep my eyes on Jesus.  That really good day on Monday seemed even better to me, because of that really not so good day I had last week.  It is all about perspective, isn't it?  And gratefulness.  I am so thankful that Jesus has his hand on me.  On the good days!  And on the not so good days!

Jesus, thank you for your continual presence with us in all the times of our life.  When things are going well and when things are not so good.  Holy Spirit, give us those reminders that we need to not hold on to the little things.  Help us to cast our cares on Jesus and keep our load light.  Thank you Jesus for a wonderful, fun day with the kids!  Amen