Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

posted by erin on Jan 11

Why you sit back and enjoy the ride. After all isn’t the old adage true that says something about how it’s not the final destination that’s the important thing but the journey that gets you to that end result? I’ve learned in the last week that there are lots of things that are out of my control…which is a very confusing thing for someone who likes to maintain a good grip on the reins. “What do you mean we can’t pour the basement on Friday? Wasn’t that the plan?” or “Is that water leaking through our drywall?” or “We can’t put our casings up until the basement is poured and now we can’t pour the basement till Tuesday so that’s going to put the painting on hold for another week which screws up the WHOLE schedule!! WHAT???!!!”

There were some tense and not so shiny moments for me this week. Finally I sat myself down (oh, yes, I said “Erin, sit, we need to have a chat”) and I said to myself, “Self, this is beyond even you. Now you can choose to sress yourself out and blame your dear husband for scheduling errors that are honest mistakes, or you can sit back and remember that you have a roof over your head and no deadline except that which you’ve chosen to set for yourself in your head. This is fun, remember? FUN with a capital F! We LIKE this. Now instead of having to rush through the painting in a week or two we can draw it out and REALLY enjoy the experience. Don’t roll your eyes at me…at yourself…whatever. What’s an extra couple weeks? In the end it still isn’t very far from being done and you knew this would happen so don’t act all surprised and annoyed. Just buck up and roll with the punches.”

Wasn’t that a great pep talk? I thought so. It worked, too, because me, myself and I are on much better terms now. No grumpy conversations going on in this here head. Back to singing and dancing and happy little bubbles of love.

Sometimes we just can’t have what we want when we want it. It doesn’t matter how much we want it or how much we think about it over and over. How many nights we lay there thinking “what if” or “If I just did this, then…” This is where faith, fortitude and patience come in. Mostly we just have to trust and obey. The rest will fall into place when the timing is right. And sometimes we just don’t get what we want. That’s when we have to trust that God’s plan is bigger and better and that he can see the future which is far brighter than the dreams and futures we build in our heads. Then you can look back and realize that hindsight really is 20/20 and that there’s that great big “AHA!” waiting for you at the end.

If nothing else, you learn how to deal with the little things life throws you with a bit of finesse and grace.