I heard a loud boom echo through the house yesterday afternoon. Then silence. And then crying.
Uh oh.
As a mom, over time I have learned to decode cries. There is a distinct agonizing sound that pierces through the silence in my home when one of the children is hurt. And what I overheard wasn't a shriek I thought should be lumped into the I-just-want-attention category.
I knew five year old Kaleb had done something to jack himself up, again.
After I managed to calm him down enough to talk to me, I discovered exactly what was responsible for his hysterics. My baby boy, who has an unquenchable desire to release his inner-gymnast, was suffering the impact of an acrobatic stunt gone wrong. Midway through one of his notorious flips, Kaleb landed forcefully on his right arm and twisted his wrist.
Ouch.
"I bwoke (broke) my owm (arm)," he said sniffling while holding out a limp wrist.
"Awww, can you move it for mommy?" I asked sympathetically.
Whimpering and wincing, Kaleb lifted his arm and twisted it all around. Though it obviously hurt, I knew he had not broken any bones. It was just a minor sprain...nothing a little ice and Tylenol couldn't fix.
Still, hours after his painful spill, Kaleb was obsessed with his sore arm. Somehow, he had convinced himself that his wrist was broken, just as mine was a couple months ago. When I went to Kaleb's bedroom to check on him, he was lying on top of his blue blanket with his arm wrapped in tissue.
When my eyes fell upon his makeshift cast created with Scott's toilet paper, I wanted to say, "Stop wasting tissue!" But I knew the little tyke was in distress and comforting him was most important at that moment.
Kids waste so much tissue, don't they? But, I digress.
"I bwoke it," he told me again, after which I explained to Kaleb that his wrist would be just fine.
"When mommy broke her wrist she couldn't move it," I told him, wondering why I was talking in the third person. "Yours moves, see?" I gently elevated his mummified arm and maneuvered it a bit. "I promise you'll be OK," I assured the miniature worrywart.
Today he's better. The pain caused by Kaleb's largely psychosomatic injury has subsided quite a bit and will completely disappear soon enough.
I think we all have, at some point, experienced our own version of what Kaleb went through yesterday. We have looked at the experiences of someone else (consciously or subconsciously) and assumed our situation would turn out the same way.
This can be a very harmful way of thinking.
Whether we see a person endure favorable or unfavorable circumstances, we cannot live vicariously through them. Otherwise, we will walk through life with false expectations.
Just because someone failed in a specific area, does not mean you will.
Just because they succeeded in another area, does not mean you will either.
Your path is unique. Your purpose is specific. Your destiny is yours alone. Just because something is considered commonplace does not necessarily mean that thing applies to you. On the other hand, the fact that an occurrence is rare does not automatically preclude you from ever experiencing it.
One person may fall and break an arm. You may fall and get up without a scratch.
Only our Heavenly Father knows what awaits us on the road of life. All we need to focus on is trusting Him to guide us through whatever phase and stage we find ourselves in.
Needless worry can eat away at our psyche like an uncontrolled cancer. It can cause us to lie awake at night, sit around in a daze during the day, and spend important moments distracted by a series of what ifs.
This is not God's will for our lives.
If we learn to lean on the Lord, no matter what signs and symptoms manifest in our world, we will stop wasting tissue and start relying on our faith to sustain us.
Today, I encourage you to cry less. Trust more. And pray always.
TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, too often, I allow the things I have witnessed in my past to control my expectations for my future. Because of that, I find myself looking back as a point of reference, instead of looking above where You are. Please help me realize that only You know my destiny, no matter what circumstances look like. God, I place my life totally in Your loving and capable hands. In Jesus' name, Amen.
