kristaphillips I had super plans to do a mini vlog today and let me and my kiddos show you all our super fun Christmas decorations.
But that requires a clean house first.
Which my house does not qualify for.
This week has been BUSY. Good, but BUSY.
Including today, there were 5 therapy appointments, 2 doctor appointments, 3 dentist appointments, 1 after school activity to drive a kid to, a day trying to knock most of Christmas shopping out, and a gas leak scare at the house. (Had them come, didn’t find anything, so maybe the rotton egg smell was telling me I need to clean??? It went away though. So there’s that:-/)
So, best laid plans didn’t quite work out.
But that’s okay. I’m learning more every day the value of going with the flow.
When I was little, I remember going to my Grandma Johnson’s house and on the wall of the little bedroom/sewing room that I slept in, she had a plaque that had the Serenity Prayer on it.
God, Grant me…
the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
I’d kinda forgotten about it until the other day when I was thinking about Christmas. (See Monday’s post)
Really, it is about accepting the things we have no control over. I can’t change Annabelle’s need for doctor’s appointments. I couldn’t change Annabelle spending Christmas in the hospital 2 years ago.
I couldn’t change a LOT of things I really WANTED to change that year.
But at some point, God did give me the peace about it all, serenity if you will, to accept the path that was chosen for us. I can’t change it, so what’s the use in fretting and moaning and groaning about it, hm?
But… there are some things we can change. Our attitude, for one. And even on weeks like this, I changed what I’m blogging about today, didn’t I, instead of stressing over trying to get everything looking just right when it really wasn’t the priority.
And in the hospital two years ago, when we got the devestating news that home-for-Christmas was a no-go… we changed our plans so we could still give all of our kiddos a very Merry Christmas, even though it hurt like all get out.
Then…
Then we come to wisdom. And that’s the crutch of it, isn’t it. How do we know when to be persistent and when to let go? When to champion a cause and when to accept a new reality?
Honestly, I don’t have an answer to that.
It’s where the prayer comes in. Only God can give such wisdom, and it comes with daily walking with Him and seeking his will in all things.
So, yes. I apologize if this post is a bit rambly. It’s being written past 11 pm on Thursday night… oh, did I mention that Annabelle decided to get up at 5 am this morning and scream for two hours because she was teething and her mouth hurt? Oh yes. It’s been great fun. 🙂
Anyway, here’s to everyone having a GREAT weekend and learning to ROLL with the flow of Jesus.
🙂
Discussion: Are you pretty good at rolling with changes in life, or do you tend to stomp your foot and beg for consistency?
I like consistency but God has slowly been teaching me flexibility. I had another test this past week over Christmas tree lights. When my husband and I married, we decided to alternate our Christmas lights on the tree from year to year. (I love white lights and my husband prefers colored ones.) A few years ago, my husband purchased a pre-lit tree with white lights. The past several years I've become accustomed to having white lights; however, *sigh* the lights stopped working. Last year before my husband put away the tree, he cut the lights off the tree. This year he bought colored lights to put on the tree. I remembered our agreement put it was hard for me to make the change after having white lights the past several years. My first reaction was to find fault but then I slowly started realizing (with the help of my boys) how petty I was being and I decided I wasn't going to let it rob my joy! Now we're all enjoying our tree.
Thanks for the post and the reminder to roll with the flow.
Oh goodness did this make me smile today! That sounds EXACTLY like something I would have been annoyed by!!! I'm a white-light lover, but thankfully my hubby could care less one way or another. (he might actually prefer colored lights but he knows me well enough to give me my way in this… probably says something not great about me!)
But YEAH for not letting it steal your joy!!! I've learned that the hard way more times than one!