Maybe you will relate to this. I'm sure it has happened to you in similar form...
It's Sunday morning. You should have taken a shower the night before, but it was so late
and you were so tired and you'll just do it in the morning. The alarm doesn't sound,
so you stay in the land of dreams a bit too long until his arm touches you and you roll over
contented. Until you see the clock. You jump from the bed. Hurry to make sure the
kids are up. Tell them to get ready - now. You go into the closet to grab something
and remember you didn't take a shower the night before. You first look in the mirror to judge
whether or not you could swing it without, but no, that just wouldn't be fair to others.
So you hurry and yell from the shower - EAT SOMETHING! to the kids.
Time is running out and why is it like this today of all days?
I'M COMING - you yell as you grab the hair dryer. But it doesn't turn on... huh? You shake it
and make sure it's plugged in... it still doesn't come on. You think, I don't have time for this!
You are frustrated and you wonder how to pull off wet hair at church. But then you see that little button on the back of the plug. The red one that says RESET and you push it. Miraculously hot air comes blowing out. It works! You sigh a sigh of relief. You dry the roots, spray some hair spray, grab your make-up bag on the way to the car and pray the kids remembered their shoes.
and you were so tired and you'll just do it in the morning. The alarm doesn't sound,
so you stay in the land of dreams a bit too long until his arm touches you and you roll over
contented. Until you see the clock. You jump from the bed. Hurry to make sure the
kids are up. Tell them to get ready - now. You go into the closet to grab something
and remember you didn't take a shower the night before. You first look in the mirror to judge
whether or not you could swing it without, but no, that just wouldn't be fair to others.
So you hurry and yell from the shower - EAT SOMETHING! to the kids.
Time is running out and why is it like this today of all days?
I'M COMING - you yell as you grab the hair dryer. But it doesn't turn on... huh? You shake it
and make sure it's plugged in... it still doesn't come on. You think, I don't have time for this!
You are frustrated and you wonder how to pull off wet hair at church. But then you see that little button on the back of the plug. The red one that says RESET and you push it. Miraculously hot air comes blowing out. It works! You sigh a sigh of relief. You dry the roots, spray some hair spray, grab your make-up bag on the way to the car and pray the kids remembered their shoes.
This was the beginning of my Sunday a few weeks back.
When we got to church I sat. I was trying hard to focus, to listen as the word was being read and expounded on. My mind felt tired and I was wrestling. Wrestling with the state of my heart. It would have been better to have had this wrestling session an hour or so before, but sometimes life (and alarms) doesn't allow you that. So there I was on the pew asking God to search my heart. I was feeling a little 'off'. Kinda like my blow dryer.
Hmm, maybe I just need to be reset...
So I began searching for that button.
A few weeks prior to that Sunday I had accepted a challenge. I was determined to complete it. I was excited about it and I could sense the change beginning.
Some of you may have heard about it. It was a challenge given to Ann Voskamp a few Christmas' ago to make a list of the gifts God had already given her. She was to write them down - all the way to 1,000. Her book One Thousand Gifts explains her process and the way God used it to change her mind and heart.
Well I was ready for something new and challenging so I began to write things down. I couldn't believe how exhilarating and liberating it was! It almost became an addiction - an addiction to being a joy seeker.
But after a few weeks the book had been mysteriously forgotten and several days passed before I remembered, Oh yeah! My gratitude book!
So sitting in church I pushed my reset button - by pulling out my gratitude book and counting my oh so many blessings...
Being held
Having someone
Praising God in the kitchen
Being asked about Ukraine
Boy noises
The crook of his neck
Being encouraged and uplifted by a sermon of grace
Finding my reset button
My perspective had warped and I had so quickly lost sight of the joy that God gives in recognizing the blessings He has already given me. I receive the gift by recognizing it, verbalizing it, writing it down so that I can see it, tangible, as reality, ultimately giving thanks for it.
There is no magic in the book or the pen, but there is a new perspective that I am enjoying, when I choose to look through the lens of gratitude.
Right now it is work. Soon I hope it will become second nature, but for now I'll just keep pushing that reset button.
5 comments:
beautiful. I need to read this today (of all days)- with a new baby with acid reflux, a touch of colic, and who doesn't sleep more than 30 minutes at a time... and a rambunctious 3 year old that I am too tired to keep up with the last 3 weeks. I need to start reminding myself of my blessings, because, I think I have forgotten them and taken the ones I have remembered for granted. So, just know that you touched one person today, if not more :-)... I think I will start writing my blessings down...
Have you ever pushed a reset button and it doesn't take? You have to push it three or four times for it to reset. That's where I am, in between Kelly and Kookys. But right now, I'm enjoying my coffee and my porch, listening to the birds chirp and wearing my new shoes. Thankful for you, your encouragement and your gift.
~ Mom
love love love this! Your description of a crazy Sunday morning sounds all too familiar. :)
I love the idea of making a list of all that I'm grateful for - sometimes it is easy to take even the 'big' blessings for granted. What once seemed like such a miracle, such a gift, can become just part of the scenery and I too easily forget to be grateful.
I have read snippets of Ann V's blog, and have heard great things about her book. Will put it on my 'need to read' list. :)
It's on my list too, Mika'l. Thanks for writing about it. I love the new look of the blog but most of all how your share your heart. God made you beautiful! xox
amy-you have just inspired another post - coming soon! hang in there, girl! it is HARD right now, but you will get through, just hold on to your joy and don't stop until you find it!!
mom-wow, I just counted 6 gifts right there!
zoe and jesse - i would greatly encourage you to move this book to the top of your list. it's one that i am reading over and over... haven't even gotten to the end yet, i keep going back and re-reading!
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