at least they were smallish

Tuesday morning script.

(too bad I did not have a copy on Monday. much screaming could have been avoided)

Evie: (running in to kitchen. excited) Mommy! There were two spiders on the floor!

Mommy: (not understanding that use of past tense for spiders location is crucial to conversation. smiling) There are? oh my! Where, sweetie?

Evie: (opening hands that mommy had not noticed were balled in fists) Here, mommy!

two spiders drop out of her adorable little hands to floor inches from Mommy's bare feet. mayhem ensues.

Re-booting

One of my husband's favorite pearls of wisdom:

"Shut-up and re-boot."

It is sound advice. Anyone who has wrestled with a slow or malfunctioning computer, mobile phone, or other electronic device (and who hasn't these days?) knows that in the moment of frustration...the panic of possible data loss...it is not always easy to calmly stop and re-boot.

And yet, this simply step solves most of what ailes our machines.

We must stop. STOP. what we are doing. My husband's word for this is 'shut-up' because having worked in tech support, he knows the knee-jerk reaction of everyone facing technological crisis is to try to explain their way out of it, or attempt to push through it, or work harder--maybe attack it from another angle...tech support hears it many times a day...and all they want you to do is...

STOP (shut-up). AND. RE-BOOT.

I find myself tired of trying to explain my way out of __________... tired of attempting to push through _____________... tired of working harder, doing it MY way, trying another of MY ways...only to end up right back where I started.

a crashed machine.

desperately seeking rest.

a STOP. not to life ~ certainly not! in fact, rather the opposite~ a stop to those things that remove the life from my life. It is all those extra little 'shoulds' that interfere so often with the reality of what is important. the self-imposed rules that weigh so heavily on me, since I can never measure up to them, can never follow them well enough to 'win'. you know, that psuedo-prize of 'goodness'.

"I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game." One of my favorite lines in a song (Defying Gravity/Wicked). and truly a good reminder to not do something just because it is what has always been done.

so, for now, my friends, there are posts to be posted and pictures to be shared...but I have stopped to re-boot. a welcome and needed halt. and one that will have me running stronger and with greater capacity soon.

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:7