Last week's So What was all about the bumblebee. This week's post is inspired by his pal, the wasp.
A few days ago, my 5 yr old daughter was playing outside. From inside, I heard a scream of pure pain and I knew that this wasn't a case of her little sister stealing a toy. Something was broken or bleeding. I ran out and saw her holding her finger. She had been stung by a wasp for the first time.
You think someone would have hacked her hand off the way she carried on, but in that moment, her little world had changed. She already has anxiety problems, but now they were on overdrive. After calming her down (for hours) I finally dragged out what was bothering her. Usually when she gets owies, they are the consequence of her behavior. You run around like a crazy girl, you'll probably trip at some point. Keep poking your sister, and she'll probably whack you. But this time, she had done nothing to warrant the pain. She was being a good girl, doing everything she was supposed to, and something stung her unexpectedly.
She vowed to never go outside again. She was scared to death that something else would come and get her when she wasn't looking. I'm still trying to get her back outside, and while I'm thinking of ways to do that, I started thinking of how true this situation is of life in general.
Thinking about this and what I make myself do, is the same approach I need to take with my daughter. I can't promise that she'll never get stung again if she goes outside. In fact she probably will. But if she stays inside, think of all the great things she'll miss out on. Riding bikes, playing on the new playground, and running through the sprinklers.
Bad things are going to happen, things are going to hurt. It's inevitable. But if we close ourselves off to the possibilities because we are afraid of the sting, think of all the great things we'll miss out on while we're inside looking out the window.
Thanks for reading. You can visit me at my other blogs and read this week's post, 50 shades of ranting, or check in on my marathon training.
Often, when I'm going through a particularly happy time in my life, I might let myself think, "Well yeah, it's great now, but remember that day last month when you were in tears? Gonna be more like that, too." But at the same time, when I'm going through something bad I always try to remind myself of what my seminary teacher used to say: "In the scriptures it says, 'It came to pass', not 'It came to stay'."
ReplyDeleteI recently had a friend go through a severe trial that hit very close to home with me, and there were parts of me that wanted to panic because I couldn't help but compare my situation with hers and ask, "What if that happens to me?" Thank goodness for prayer, because the Spirit whispered to me that worrying wasn't helping anything. I needed to trust in the Lord that He has a plan for me, do my best to stay close to Him, and let HIm take care of the details, whatever they may be. Sometimes it feels kind of like walking through a dangerous obstacle course in the dark, having to trust in the hand of the Lord to get you through. There's a part of you that wants to just stop in your tracks and stay put- grab that big blanket and hide under it and never come out. But at the same time you have to remember that it won't always be dark. You just have to trust. :-)
This comment has nothing to do with the post, however, I do love everyone's posts on here. They make me laugh, cry and even ponder life. But I wanted to put a request. I would like a page that talks about the next writing contest that was posted, so I don't have to keep scrolling through all the blogs. One that can give me updates and help remind me about it. While I'm making suggestions...I think It would be cool to have a suggestion page for me to make this suggestion on. :) and so we can ask a few questions that could be answered in later blogs. what do you think?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your wonderful suggestions. I will definitely put up a new page for the contest in the next couple of weeks. I just finished with my daughter's baptism and have family in town for the holiday. Since I'm in charge of the contest i need to get caught up with everything. ;)
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