Whining and Dining

Candy blogs: Tough three weeks … I am ready for some rest and peace. How about you?

My Whine List
~ 2nd week of November was the busiest week on record for me. I seriously overbooked myself.
~ Parents surprise visit from South Dakota
~ My dear father-in-law took a serious turn for the worse in Arizona and Scott flew down for ten days, which included being apart Thanksgiving and on our 34th wedding anniversary.
~ Took on a new bookkeeping client
~ Sister and family surprise visit from Washington State … and brought DOG
You may not know that I am not a dog lover. I don’t hate dogs but I don’t like them either. And we have a cat only because my husband is a cat worshipper. Now even though Sadie, the dog, only stayed one short night at our house before she was taken to her safe haven at my aunt’s house, in that short time she drank all the cat’s water and practically emptied the toilet of water, threw up in the living room and left an odoriferous gift in my bedroom … right beside my side of the bed.
~ Thanksgiving at my house suddenly became huge. Grandma always breezed through big holiday gatherings.

My “victory” was that I didn’t blow up at anyone during Thanksgiving week. (I had blown up the previous week but that’s another post) But this soon became a hollow victory. I had just commented on Facebook about how “not divorcing” is not enough. How it isn’t necessarily noble just to stay married if you haven’t enjoyed the journey together and accomplished the purposes God intended the two of you to fulfill.

Suddenly I saw the parallel between the two things … just like not divorcing wasn’t enough, not blowing up wasn’t enough.

Just gritting my teeth and willing my mouth to stay closed wasn’t a fragrant offering that pleased the Lord. No words may have come out but they were there on the inside. My attitude was in selfish, poor me mode.

What a contrast to this verse …
… love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. I Corinthians 13:5

I had done it all in the last two weeks. I had been rude, self-seeking, easily angered and I have kept record of wrongs.

What in the world?! It was time to step back and get some perspective.

Yes … there were several big stresses piling up at the same time. I acknowlege that. No one was expecting perfection of me. But what had I missed by allowing my attitude to get the better of me? Where was my eucharisteo living?

I had let the urgent and mundane become more important than people and the opportunity to express love and thankfulness.

I had so many things to be thankful for …
~ At the insistence of my family, on my anniversary, we all went to Krispy Creme for breakfast and had Mongolian food for lunch. The Lord KNOWS how I love donuts and Mongolian food. And to have them both in the same day was just too much to overlook.
~ I “had coffee” one morning at the kitchen table with my nieces and nephew before their parents woke up and found out some wonderful things about who they are. Well, I had coffee and they had peppermint hot chocolate.
~ My dad and brothers-in-law stepped in for Scott every time I needed a man to do something.
~ Many hands made light work.
~ We saw Happy Feet 2!
~ I helped my parents with some of their technology problems and also helped them “shop local” on Black Friday.
~ I was not alone; I was surrounded by a loving family.

And, yes, there are also true issues that I am now processing. My strong reactions were indeed a symptom of a deeper need. But this stressful time was not a spiritual attack. I wasn’t doing spiritual battle this time. It was a stacking up of circumstances that I let overwhelm me.

Saw this on Facebook … It is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy.

I’m letting all this sit for a while. What say you? How was your Thanksgiving?