(Oh God, HELP Me...)...Roll With It! (A.K.A. Surf's Up; Ride It Out)

I am in desperate need of a nap. At least, I think I am.  I have a cold and didn't get enough sleep last night.  My son has a cold too, and I just KNOW he's going to take a 2 - 3 hour nap today.  I spend the first hour of his nap time getting caught up on a bit of writing and some reading, and literally the SECOND that I go to put the computer down, lay down, and doze off into bliss (well, as much bliss as can be achieved when you're trying to sleep with a stopped up nose)....

"Out!  Out!  I get up!"  My son's (startling, albeit adorable) voice rings out through the monitor, jarring me out of my sleepy thoughts.

"You have GOT to be kidding me."  <<groan>>

One thing that you have no control over as a parent of an almost-2-year-old is when your normally very scheduled toddler is going to decide to completely leave the beaten schedule-path and suddenly shorten his one and only nap to just shy of an hour.  Hopefully it doesn't become a trend.

Another thing you have no control over is when things randomly decide to DIVE off your refrigerator shelves at you when you open the door.  (Hey, c'mon, cut me some slack - - I'm trying to convince myself (and you) that I really had no control over it, and that it had nothing to do with the fact that I haven't cleaned the fridge out recently enough.  Is it working?  No?  Sigh....  At least I tried.)

Oh, how I WISH I'd had the wherewithal to grab my phone and snap a picture of the explosion... but when you're trying to figure out which of the red spots all over your legs are blood from glass shrapnel, and which are flecks of salsa, taking a picture isn't exactly your highest priority.  (Thankfully, none of it was blood, though there were several very small pieces of glass lodged - not deeply - in my skin and clothes.)  Just imagine a brand new jar of Pace completely smashed on the floor in front of my fridge, and IN my fridge, and salsa flung all over the kitchen walls and cupboards.  Got the mental picture?  (Insert another <<groan>> here.)

This was one of those moments when I'm super thankful my husband works (for 3 more weeks, anyway, until he starts his new job) from home.  My Stan-in-shining-armor came to my rescue and got started cleaning up the mess while I ran upstairs to try to get out of my clothes without getting cut on any glass that was stuck in them.  Success.  I come back downstairs, finish mopping, and re-mopping, the kitchen floor.  No more glass shards to be found.

So now I'm in the process of mopping the kitchen floor for a third time because now my flip flops are sticking to the floor when I walk...when I hear a cry of shock from the playroom (where Isaac had thankfully been during the entire exploding-glass/salsa ordeal.)

Trying not to slip on the wet floor, I quickly made my way the 7 or so steps into the playroom to find.... (wait for it....)



(This is a little embarrassing... I'm going to admit to one of those moments that really makes you feel like a bad mom....)



(Still working up the nerve............)



Whew.  Okay.  Here goes:

I walk into the playroom to find.... my almost-2-year-old son with the blind cord wrapped tightly around his neck!!  Augh!!  He was crying, terrified.... Which at least reassured me that he wasn't choking.  I gasped (unfortunately, as I usually try hard to carefully measure my responses when Isaac is hurt so as to help him feel MORE secure and confident - - not LESS so.  Epic fail.  Ah well....)....quickly freed him and held him tightly till he calmed down....thanking Jesus that he was safe and trying not to feel terrible about my parenting skills.

The Offending Blind Cord

[This is the part where I have to make the disclaimer that we DO keep our blind cords wrapped, up high, on those little blind-cord-holder-things.  Yes, that is the technical terminology.  Apparently Isaac has grown tall enough now that when standing on the futon in our playroom, he can reach up and grab the cord.  Yikes.  Gonna have to move that blind-cord-holder-thing up higher.]

Anyway.... I don't have a WHOLE lot of super deep stuff to say today... just this.  With every one of these circumstances, the challenge of the Lord to me today was...

"Girl, roll with it!  Take a deep breath (through your mouth since your nose is stuffed), trust ME to be your Source, and roll with it."

When life feels as ridiculously MESSY (literally AND figuratively!) as mine did this afternoon, it's super easy to get into "everyone-outa-my-way-I'm-a-stressed-out-mama" mode.  (A.K.A. "When Mama ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!")

We've all been guilty of hurting our family's hearts because in our own hearts we've moved OUT of a place of abiding in our Father and being resourced by Him alone, and INTO a place of trying to do things in our own strength.

Responding to God's invitations to us in stressful, messy moments like these, involves: 

• breathing deep
• riding out the waves as they come... 
• while coming to grips with our inability to control them...
• doing our best out of a place of rest* in our Father...
• ...and just ROLLING with it.  

In other words.... Surf's Up...Ride It Out.

*I'm such a poet.... "Do your best...out of rest...."

And roll with it.

Annnnnd, that's a wrap.  (Or a rap?  Hmmm... I see another album on the horizon..... just kidding!!!  I promise.)

(Wow, wonder if my cold medicine is making me loopy tonight...?)

PS - It's time for me to take my cold to bed... so I just stopped by the kitchen sink on the way upstairs, and for some reason happened to glance at the ceiling...and.... SALSA!  Aaauugh!  But at least I got a picture for you....  Here ya go:

See it??  (Pardon the weird lighting.)

What about you?  
What are some truths or characteristics of God that
help enable you to "roll with it?"  
Any crazy circumstances in your life lately that have made
riding life's waves a little more difficult than normal?