One of the things Melissa and I have always prided ourselves on is not airing our dirty laundry. We tend to keep things between ourselves and fix our problems (my problems as is often the case) without eliciting outside help (if it can be called that). Today I'm going to air some of that dirty laundry to illustrate a point.
The day after Thanksgiving Melissa had gone out to catch some of the Black Friday Sales and in the process had left her purse in the car of a friend. Rather than get it the next day we decided to pick it up a couple of days later when we would again meet up to watch the Utah game. This wasn't too big of a deal at the time but as the hours wore on I remembered that Melissa keeps her life in her purse (doesn't every woman?). She had to borrow my wallet on numerous occasions and at one point she took my keys to run an errand. This bothered me a little bit, but it was nothing I couldn't handle (or at least nothing that I should need to handle).
It was in this ever-so-slightly frustrated attitude that I found myself as we were getting ready to go watch the game. Melissa was doing her best to get the kids ready to get out the door and we all got into the car. As I reached into my pocket for my keys I found that I had only the Saturn key, but somehow the Yukon key was not there. I was furious and, with my tone, blamed Melissa for losing my keys. I went back into the house to look for the keys and slammed the door on my way in. Melissa began searching the Saturn hoping the keys had fallen out of her pocket. She found the keys and we attempted to enjoy ourselves for the rest of the evening knowing full well that my little theatrical production with my temper had put a damper on things.
Fast forward to Monday night. After a good Sunday and a lot of appologizing and soul searching I decided to teach the kids about anger and what it does to the spirit in our house. We had a very good discussion and I felt a need to try to roleplay our little misunderstanding in the car from the previous week and see if the kids could help me to find a better way to deal with the situation in order to diffuse the situation. I was feeling pretty good about where we were at this time and was probably even a bit proud of myself for helping us all to see how much better we can do with contention, especially myself. I asked the kids if they remembered what happened and the following conversation ensued:
Me: "Do you kids remember what happened the other night when we got in the Yukon and couldn't find the keys?"
Spencer: "Yeah, mommy lost your keys and you got pretty mad."
Me: "And I got out of the car and went toward the house. Do you remember what happened next?" At this point I was fully expecting Spencer to tell me how I had lost my temper and slammed the door walking into the house.
Spencer: "I said a prayer that we could find the keys and mommy found them in the Saturn."
Have you ever had one of those moments when you feel completely humbled and in awe at the people around you? This was one of those times.
I've learned a lot about Charity since Monday and I'm trying to learn from my son to pray for miracles because I believe in a God who's just waiting for me to ask. A man without God is just a man. Left to my own ways I will stumble and fall as I try to maneuver life, but with Deity as my companion there are no impossibilities.
