What do you think about bats? We went to the Portland Zoo and they had a sizable bat habitat. I happen to like bats because they remind me of P.N.G. where I used to live. When we lived out in our village there, these bats would fly overhead every evening during twilight. I always wondered where they had been all day and where they were going every night. I vowed that I would follow them someday and find their mysterious bat cave but I never did and still wonder about them.I heard that bats were some good eatin' too...
I suppose this feeling of being "batty" has been a part of my life for longer than I'd like to admit. I think that there are times when everyone feels out of control amidst this thing called life. My four year old has actually picked up my phrase, "You're making me crazy!" I regret that she missed the sarcasm because I do not actually believe that anyone can make me do anything let alone go crazy. (unless they are holding a loaded weapon) The other day I tried to pin my looniness on my children and then I stopped and said, "I am a total idiot if I am going to hand my remote control over to you!" Yes, it was another stellar parenting moment, I admit. If I had a dollar for every one of these moments... I'd have at least six or seven hundred dollars by now.
Thus I have added several new phrases to my mantra list:
I can handle this!
I am calm!
This isn't that big of a deal!
So far it's helping. That and prayer: "Help! I'm losing it here!"
I read a verse from the book of Proverbs the other night: "Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains." (Prov. 14:13 NLT)
That may not seem so encouraging but the reality of it was encouraging to me. See, God gets this. He really does get it. He gets that we can laugh and still be sad. It's not all either/or to Him. He gets that there are layers to our lives. He gets that some days are better than others. He's the only one who knows what is causing this depression in it's totality because He knows all of the contributing factors, right down to my DNA and very molecules. He also gets how hard it is for we humans to be in control of ourselves - which is why He offered to help us out with that.
When our four-year-old asked where were going one day I said that we were going to the "Loony Bin". I described to her how there are people who wear white coats there walking around with big butterfly nets. I also mentioned that sometimes you get to wear special jackets. (It sounds like a fun place, right? A place where you don't have to be in control of yourself because, ultimately someone else will do it for you with the nets and special jackets)
As it turned out we were only running boring old errands and going to a coffee shop so we hear this wailing from the back seat, "Where's the Loony? I wanted to go to the Looooony!"
Me too sweetheart.
Me too.
2 comments:
Only six or seven hundred? Girl, that's nothing. You should have lived with me at the trailer park; that was a days worth for a few of my neighbors, and it was only what I could hear going on.
I, too, battle nature and nurture in this area (not just in the “saying” things I shouldn’t have, but in feeling that my kids are doomed already because I am their mother). Thank God for grace and mercy!
Yeah, hopefully I do not produce an awesome side-show for my neighbors like the one in the trailer park.
I don't live with ya as a mom but you seem like a fun mom and your home always feels so peaceful; the grace and mercy are in effect!
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