Hangups, Hiccups and Honeymoons: When The Stardust Falls From Our Eyes

As I was putting the bottom sheet on my daughter's crib mattress this evening, I admired the pretty purple and pink flowers set against the cream background. I tucked it in nice and snug and smiled as I reflected back to before she ever slept on those sheets. Before she arrived. I remember looking at the crib then, all set up and girlishly adorable, ready to receive my perfect, beautiful baby girl. My husband and I would gaze at the lovely crib set, sigh and say, "Our little girl is going to sleep here!" Swoon! 

I certainly didn't stand there and say, "Oh my God... she's going to fight naps so hard that I'm going to throw myself on the floor and bawl piteously." Likewise, I did not muse, "She's not going to sleep through the night until she's 8 months old." or "She's going to have night terrors that break our hearts." We pictured a perfect baby, slumbering sweetly on cute sheets next to the somewhat matching teddy bear that was destined to be her favorite. Well, she prefers the little stuffed squirrel to the bear and those sheets have seen copious amounts of spit up, varying degrees of poopy, a little sprinkling of tinkling and most recently, a whole hell of a lot of snot. 

We get ideas in our heads and they sparkle. Marriage, for instance. Ladies- how many of you envisioned your days after "I do" to be as shimmering as that gorgeous diamond you coveted so much? The days are not always dazzling, am-I-riiight!? We embark on cognitive honeymoons and it's not always pretty when the truth of life sets in. 

The imagination is a fantastic thing, but it can often lead us to pastures we thought were going to be a lot greener. This morning, the associate pastor was opening her sermon and in a slip up, she said "idolatry" instead of "ideology". Now, shortly thereafter, my cherub started squawking so I courteously toted her out into the Narthex so uh, I basically missed the entire message. (Yeah, I'm that mom who drags her toddler to the pew instead of going to the nursery but hey- she loves the choir and she never fails to make someone smile). 

Anyway, the two isolated incidents got me thinking. The sheets, and what they represented before the reality of motherhood and the notion of idolatry. Typically when you think of idolatry all sorts of golden calves or celebrities spring to mind. Now, I'm not bowing before Tim McGraw (tempting as that may be) and a simple fitted sheet is not exactly a graven image but don't we sometimes get swept up in something material or even just the idea of something and give it more power than we ought to? Then what happens when we experience a violation of our expectations?

Can you think of anything in your life that has the same pull? How much does it truly weigh, and what really matters?

What is real?

God love 'em, the Robertsons boil it down to Faith, Family and Ducks. What's on your list and how do you keep it on the top? Ducks might not be on your list (oddly enough, they are on my daughter's) but hopefully FAITH and family are. It's okay to be a huge fan of something or someone but remember who you should be the biggest fan of. And it's okay to have dreams and be optimistic, but don't let your kingdom crumble when your visions don't align with reality. 

Sometimes a violation of our expectations is a good thing. It reminds us that God is at the helm and as usual (like it or not at the time) He knows best. Sometimes, a silly little squirrel is better than a fancy bear anyway. 

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, the will walk and not be faint.

 ~ Isaiah 40:28-31