Well I am going to attempt a blog post today even though I am so out of it I almost sprayed cooking spray in Baby Girl's potty instead of Lysol. I guess even us stay-at-homers can still have a case of the Mondays. It's amazing, isn't it, how effortless some days can be and how others can have relatively the same set of circumstances and be so...difficult.
I would blame the heat, but I'm tired of everybody blaming the heat. For those of you readers who do not live in North Texas at the moment, we are experiencing temperatures in the 100s day after day after day after day...with no end in sight. It does take its toll on you.
Today we were in the drive-through lane of our bank. It seemed like the best choice. I had the kids in tow (as always), the parking lot was crazy full, I was only making a deposit, and the line was only three cars deep. A no brainer, right? WRONG! I am not sure what transactions the other cars were making but two of them took a long, long time. Meanwhile, I was beginning to stress out. The temperature gauge on my car said it was 109 degrees outside, my air-conditioning was beginning to be significantly less chilly, and I had two sweaty, red-faced preschoolers getting a little bit cranky. I was tempted to bail but I really needed to get the deposit in there and there was only one car left. I started praying that whatever this customer was doing, they would do it quickly. That the teller move with lightning fast speed so I can get my car moving, the air blowing, and back to the cool of my home.
No such luck. They were taking a long time too. I felt the old me begin to rear her ugly head. I wanted to yell at Baby Boy to stop whining, lay on my horn, then gripe out the teller for being so unbelievably slow. Luckily, I now have a red flag that goes up when I experience these feelings, so I did none of the above. Instead I took a deep breath and prayed. Instead of asking God to change the situation, I asked Him to change my reaction to it. I asked Him to restore a new spirit within me, to give me patience. I thanked Him that the car had not overheated (yet) and that we still had lukewarm air moving. I assured myself that we weren't all going to suffocate or get heat stroke in line for the bank. I took a few more deep breaths.
Suddenly the heat did not seem so oppressive. I had a flashback to my law school days, when I used to hang out at Gruene Hall in 100 degree weather, sweating under the ceiling fans listening to some great Texas country band. It wasn't any cooler in there, sweating under the ceiling fans, but I never felt like complaining. I was having too good a time. Okay, granted, I didn't have a three year old whining, "Mommy, I'm hoooooot" every few minutes, but I'm grateful for that three year old. The memory made me smile and consequently relax. The car in front of me pulled away.
Call it mind over matter or whatever you want to; I call it kingdom living. Because the Bible makes it clear that we don't have to live like everybody else does: complaining, irritable and miserable. It says our circumstances don't determine our joy. I don't ascribe to the belief that we are probably going to be miserable down here but can look forward to joy in heaven. I think the message of Christ is that we get to be really happy down here, no matter what, and then be even happier in heaven. It just takes right action on our part or, in this case, right prayer. And while I'm a little scattered this evening, I'm smiling. While I've had a few grumpy moments, I didn't pinch anyone's head off, literally or figuratively. I'm going to approach this heat wave with joy, ask God to guide me toward fun and fulfilling indoor activities...and pray for rain.
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