Simplifying… me

Have you ever wished you could stop, rewind and re-do a moment in time?  I have…pretty much on a regular basis.  This past weekend, especially, I needed a “do over” day.

On Saturday morning Sydney managed to wedge her bedroom door shut while she and Jackson were inside.  I couldn’t get it open – not even a single budge.  They were trapped.  I body slammed it so many times that I now have a lovely bruise on my left shoulder.  I could hear wailing and screaming coming from the other side of the door.  This is why we have an “open door” policy in our home.  Doors remain open at all times, unless the parents have designated otherwise.  Too many near-loss-of-fingers incidents.  We had to put the open door policy into effect.  On this day in particular, Sydney was getting wild, decided to shut Brooklyn out of the bedroom, and pretty much closed herself in for a thirty minute time-out.

Was I frustrated?  Yes.  I was.  Did I manage this situation in a calm and peaceful manner?  Hmmm….I could have done better.

Stop.  Rewind.  Try again.

Some friends had invited us over to their home for lunch after church yesterday.  We enjoy this family so much, and their girls are the same ages as our girls.  The afternoon was going well until their youngest daughter came running inside from the backyard and announced that Brooklyn had told Jackson to throw dirt on her.  And he did.  My children were on the fast track to cranky-ville, and it was becoming clear that they were suffering from a severe case of nap-deficiency.  Not an excuse for bad behavior, but certainly a contributing factor.

As I was sitting in my friends’ living room, holding Jackson and Brooklyn on my lap (both in full blown melt-down mode), singing “Little Mister Roo” all I could think about was, “Can I have a ‘do over’?”.

Stop.  Rewind.  Try again.

Jackson was up at 3:30 this morning.  His, “Mommy! Mommy!” cries pulled me out of a deep coma.  He needed help going potty.  I couldn’t get back to sleep after that.  I laid in my bed thinking about all the things I need to do today, all the things coming up this week, all the things I am running behind in, and how much I wish I could escape to a nice, warm beach somewhere.  Needless to say, when my alarm went off at 5:30 am, I turned it off, rolled over and closed my eyes.

I woke up late.  Bad start to the day.

Stop.  Rewind.  Try again.

Psalm 103:11&12 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

Romans 4:7&8 “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

In my world of “high expectations” I really blew it a time or two this weekend.  It is Monday morning, and as I look to the past I fear it has set me up for a less than stellar week.  I wonder if I could do the weekend over, somehow I could set everything right again.  Not so.  ”Do overs” are great, when you can actually do something over (like one of my kids waking up on the wrong side of the bed – they get to stop, go back to their room, and try again).  When you can’t, there is always the assurance that once forgiven by God all is restored.  We don’t have to rewind to try again.  We simply get to start fresh.  Start new. Start over.

So, rather than stop.  Rewind.  Try again.  I am going to stop.  Receive forgiveness.  And start anew.  I think I like this way better than a “do over” day.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!