Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. Proverbs 29:11
When the snow is coming, I must mentally prepare for the shoveling that will need to happen. I was ready this weekend since the prediction of misery was given a week out. The boys and I shoveled on Friday to have a clean slate since I knew we were in for several inches Saturday. I was on top of the world that it never happened. Yes, it came down, but my hubby and I made quick work of that before it turned to rain. He informed me that it looked like we were in the clear. Oh, how naïve I was.
As I was snuggled all nice and warm under the covers this morning, I heard this odd scraping sound. I knew my hubby was up to something but wasn’t quite sure what. Then, he did it. He informed me that there were several inches of snow outside, and we needed to get it off the driveway as soon as possible because the temperature was dropping. He was going to wake the boys up so we could get started. He gave me false hope yesterday; I wasn’t mentally prepared!
What was there to do but drag myself outside, for the third day in a row, into the wonderful world of shoveling? I’m ashamed to say that I wasn’t jumping out of bed giving God the glory for a beautiful day. It was more like dragging with a few mumbled words. Before I even went out, my oldest was coming back in looking for face masks because of how cold it was. Oh great. I bundled up and realized that it wasn’t normal shoveling, it was heavy slush under the snow. The kind the sticks to the shovel.
I had a brilliant idea! I once heard if you use cooking spray on the shovel, everything would slide right off. I got all the shovels sprayed and sat the can on the step outside. I got dug in, but still had trouble with the nasty mess that was out there. Whose brilliance thought that shoveling builds character? Whoever thought it allows for fresh air and physical exercise is really obnoxious on days like today. I was annoyed at myself.
As I sit here with a hot pad on my back, I’m chuckling about what happened next. It was amazing! I’m standing in the kitchen with my hubby, and a magic trick was happening right in front of my eyes. The can of cooking spray that was brought back inside was on the island moving! When I told my hubby, he looked at me as if I was having some sort of breakdown and wasn’t sure how to help me. That’s when his eyes bugged out a bit as it landed on the dancing can that was heading across the island.
I think the shock of it all had my hubby in a state of awe when it dawned on me what was happening. I yelled, “Get it outside, it’s going to blow!” It froze as it was sitting outside and the pressure building up inside was sure to make an explosion. We took action to keep the reaction under control. The quickness in our movements were something to be admired.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t my only strange incident in the kitchen. I’ll never forget the strange hissing noises I heard in there one summer. I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from until I was moving the watermelon, I had on the counter, to check behind it. There was juice leaking from the watermelon, so I grabbed it to get it outside. As I got to the woods and tossed it, it burst into smithereens! In the midst of my trauma from the exploding watermelon, my hubby was only concerned that he missed it. I can only shudder thinking of the mess that would have created if I hadn’t heard the sign it was giving off. Disaster was averted!
That got me thinking. Do I take action quickly enough to keep my reactions under control? Is that something I could be doing better? There were signs that told me the can and the watermelon were going to explode. Do I know my signs? Does my heartrate and breathing increase? Do I tense up? I need to have an exit plan when an explosion is about to take place to avert disaster!
Candace Cameron Bure said, “Sometimes we let our feelings take control of a moment, a day, and even our whole lives. That’s troublesome, because while our emotions are a gift, they shouldn’t be sitting in the driver’s seat. If we’re ruled by our feelings, we start to make decisions not out of a sense of purpose or principles but from how we feel in the moment. We don’t have the capacity to extend kindness to others, because we’re too wrapped up in how we feel about ourselves.”
How about you? Try to pay attention to your signs before your about to blow! Have an exit strategy in place so your emotions aren’t in the driver’s seat. We can be observant to the signs of others too. It could prevent many issues in the future for us and them.
