Sometimes you have to Laugh

So I am heading back to the van after dropping K off at pre-school.  I look down and…  Are you kidding me?!  I am wearing two different shoes.  I am pretty sure this is a first for me–at least outside my house and completely unaware.  Sheesh.  Hopefully the trip was brief enough that no-one noticed.  At least both shoes had a buckle, similar shape and are totally cute!  Note to self…do not put your shoes on without the light on again–especially when in a hurry!  It could have been worse…I could have not noticed until I was sitting in a circle of women at Bible study this morning.

At least we can all get a good laugh this morning….at my expense, of course. 🙂  If there is one thing I have learned so far in life, it is that you MUST be able to laugh at yourself.  Otherwise you may go crazy…or drive those around you crazy…or both.

Like a Child

I am often amazed at how often the Lord speaks to me through my daughter. I would guess most of you are not surprised to hear that. Not so much because of my daughter, but because of the nature of parenting. 🙂

I find that if I take even a brief moment to hear what I am saying to K, I hear that Heavenly whisper in my ear saying something like, “Take that to heart,” or “That applies to you, too, you know.”

Take this morning for example. We were getting a few things ready for some new friends to come visit. (We enjoyed our time with them all immensely, by the way and are anxious for a replay sometime soon! Plus I think I have new walking partners AND the start of a couponing group. Woohoo!)

Have you noticed that I get easily distracted? I think it is the influence of my 4 year old. Yeah…let’s go with that.

Anyway, K and I were baking some muffins this morning. Actually, she did most of the work while I washed some dishes. I was quite impressed at her mixing success. And not at all surprised at my own impatience as I sometimes had to repeat myself over and over and over and over and over and….you get it. But it made me realized that I am so like that with God.

We are challenged by the Word to have faith like a child. I am often good at being like a child, but not necessarily in the area of faith; more in the areas of not listening, or not allowing myself to be helped because I can “do it myself.” You know, just being plain stubborn about wanting to do it in my own way and time. Kind of like my 4 year old, who when she asks if she can do something and is told to “wait,” either turns to ask the other parent or in less than 30 seconds says: “how about now?”

I am so that way with God. Aren’t we all? Well, maybe you are much more skilled at submissive obedience than I am. But since you, too, are human …well, I kind of doubt it. We all struggle to submit to our Maker’s ways and plans and timing—just as our children sometimes struggle to submit to our ways, plans, and timing. Go figure.

I don’t even really have to wonder why that is. I am confident it comes down to the core issue of the fall. We do not believe God. We believe the Serpent when he tells us God is lying to us. We substitute the Truth for a lie. And we take matters into our own hands because we think we know better than God. And then we are surprised when we screw it all up.

Thankfully, God already knew we would screw it all up. That’s why He sent Jesus. During a sermon this last week (or maybe the one before that), our pastor said something along the lines of “There is no plan B. Jesus is and always has been God’s plan A.” I really like that. I think we can be secure in knowing that God has always known from before the beginning of time that we were going to mess up repeatedly. But He wanted us around anyway!