The thing about Starbucks cups is the lids can be a little sketchy sometimes. Either you have to pry them off or they pop off with the tiniest squeeze. It was a cold blustery day after a week of 60º temperatures, winter has returned. So I got myself a nice venti caramel hot chocolate and got back in the 4Runner. I was on the phone with Liz Carey through the CarPlay, and I reached dwon and grabbed the cup out of the cupholder to get my first sip of that amazing drink, and pop! Off came the top and a tremendous spray of hot liquid went all over my jeans, shoes, carpeting, and pooled on my (thankfully) WeatherTech floor mats. What was funny is that I barely mentioned it at the time during the conversation, and then I casually said, “Well, I just spilled hot chocolate all over the place.” Liz was like, “How are you so calm?!”
Rewind to the day before. I reached into my glovebox only to find that all my napkins (I am a napkin hoarder, ok?!) had been turned into confetti by a rouge mouse who evidently was seeking warmer accommodations in my truck. That evening, I stopped at Drive & Shine and vacuumed everything out and did not put any napkins back in the box. This morning, in what I am sure was a rebellious demonstration of pure spite and retribution, I found mouse poop all over my dashboard. There is now a Jawz® trap on the floor with fresh peanut butter in it. Bro is going down! Poop on my dash? No. I don’t think so.
Needless to say, I opened the glovebox after the spill only to remember that I had no more napkins in there. [See, this is why I keep napkins!] However, I also have car cleaning supplies at the ready, so I used up all my microfibers mopping up hot chocolate from the essential areas. I made it to the bank, and Liz said, “You need to redeem the day!” On my way back, I stopped back at Starbucks for another hot chocolate (and they were so kind to give me the second one on the house). Then it was back home for fresh jeans. I washed off the WeatherTech mat in the maintenance sink, and was feeling better. I still haven’t caught Mr. Mouse, but I have faith that in due time, he will meet his untimely end.
Redeem the day. Take something unexpected or annoying and press reset. It’s easy to get sideways when things go awry. You can let something completely derail your attitude and be mad about it, or you can just choose another path. Honestly, I tend to laugh about this stuff because there is not much of a point in getting mad about it. I wish I could have seen my face when that lid came off though. I am chuckling at the thought of it.
Life throws us unexpected stuff all the time. This is a small, silly story of something ultimately insignificant. The real test is how we handle the big stuff — those significant moments and events that genuinely change the course of our lives. Losing a job. Losing a friend or family member. Losing your home. Finding out you have a serious medical issue. I have seen people stand in the middle of these storms with such strength, grace, and hope. I am not saying they are not also experiencing grief, anger, sadness at the same time (it’s all essential and a part of the process), but the situation is not their ultimate focus. They haven’t allowed that anger to consume them or cause them to become bitter. (Which is different than toxic positivity — ignoring or masking your grief and emotion and presenting a false attitude of “everything is fine!”) It’s more of a conscious choice to walk differently. I have a lot of respect for that and hope that I would stand like that in the face of a significant unexpected curveball.
Living above the fray is a phrase I have written about many times, and it is a concept that has been ingrained in my “brain housing group” (as Dad always said) and instituted into how I try to live my life. When you can operate from a place of consistent steadiness and with a measure of calm strength, the swirl of emotional chaos and the curveballs don’t throw you. Do I get tired and frustrated some times? Absolutely. When you have a day where all the truck doesn’t start, the toilets get clogged, the pipes have a leak, you get a notification from your bank that your account is -$27.00, and all this little stuff is going wrong … all you can do its shake your head and say, “Sweet Lord Jesus, give me strength. I mean, can things please just work the way they are supposed to for one day!”
So I pause. Regroup. Close my eyes and center myself. Breathe. Ok. Get back to it. Redeem the day. Reset.
All of this is a part of these 40 days of Lent. Resetting. Regrouping. Refocusing. Learning to live above the fray. There is a verse in the book of Ephesians that says that there is so much going on around us that is worthless, so live in the light and let us all be wise with how we use our time – redeem the day!