The Red Crayon

It's Sunday, which means Monday is tomorrow. Obviously.

Like most households, I assume, Monday is when we get back to our regular schedule after a fun couple of days doing mostly what we'd like. Two days of fun also make for a house that needs to be whipped back into shape. Laundry has usually piled up and everything is just a bit out of place from the different comings and goings. Add all of that to the fact that Monday is a day full of activities out of the house for us and it can get pretty crazy.

That brings me to my point...

This morning, I decided to be proactive with how our week started. I made a list yesterday of all the things that I should get done this weekend so I could start the week off on the right foot. I was going to finish my chores from the week, get a head start on this week's chores, and start my research for an article that has a fast-approaching deadline. Well...

My first step to getting a head start on my week was to change loads and fold the load of clothes that I'd left sitting in my dryer yesterday. I put some bread in the toaster and went to do just that. Unfortunately, the clothes were still damp as it was a rather large load. That was the first glitch in my perfect little plan, but since the clothes didn't smell of mildew, I just set the dryer for a bit more time and went back to fixing breakfast so we'd get to church on time.

After breakfast, I headed back to the dryer and began tossing the clothes in the laundry basket. As I did so, I noticed red marks on almost all of the large load of clothes. I looked closer and realized that it looked like wax. Before I could even finish my thought, a crayon wrapper tumbled to the ground. It was a red crayon wrapper. The mystery was solved and I wanted to cry or scream.

Instead, I did what every modern mama would do and I turned to facebook. My friends came through and suggested all sorts of things that should help me get the crayon out of the clothes. Oddly enough, no one mentioned what I actually did which was to toss all the clothes in a bag until I have the motivation and time to actually tackle them. I'm hoping to get the laundry caught up first. Of course, if I wait for that, I might never work on the stained clothes...

The rest of the day went pretty much as it started. Little inconveniences seemed to pop up here and there and I realized I had a choice. I could either get upset that my day wasn't going according to plan or I could let go of my illusion of control. With God's help, (and a quick email to a friend) I chose the latter.

As the day turned into evening and I received some phone calls making one of my activities a bit more challenging tomorrow, I just sighed and thought, "it's just like the red crayon." I can either be upset about what happened or count my blessings.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've cried over the red crayon, or spilt milk or whatever. However, today I was reminded of how it's up to me as to whether I let something so little (though very annoying) ruin my day.

Perhaps I'll even leave some of that clothing stained as a reminder not to make big problems out of little problems. (At the very least it would be an excuse to skip what is sure to be a tedious task.) Regardless, I do pray that more and more I would learn from the "red crayons" in my life, because like it or not they will be there. Fortunately, so will He, helping me through both the big and little inconveniences of life!