It was just a piece of cereal...

Psalm 90:12

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."

I am a grandmother...which, aside from the obvious, basically means I am on the lookout for all things dropped, spilled, or splattered.  It doesn't really matter if I am at home, in a restaurant, or a hospital waiting room, if a little one can use it to make a mess, I tend to spot it. So this cereal thing really grabbed my attention.

This morning, MeMaw and I we were waiting for our mutual grandson to come out of surgery. As we waited, a mom with a toddler started talking to us. I smiled and anticipated what was about to happen as her little one ate dry cereal while entertaining everyone in the room.  As the mom started gathering her things, a piece of chocolate cereal rolled off her lap onto the floor.  We believe she saw it but didn't have enough hands to pick it up, not so for her little one.  With all the grace of a new toddler, he attempted to pick it up but stepped on it instead, smashing it into the carpet...We watched as his mom explained "Yes you did that, and no, you can't eat it now."

I couldn't help but think how typical this is of life's problems. Sometimes they come at us in a neat package so we may think that if we ignore them, they will go away...or if we just leave them alone they will work themselves out. And sometimes this is the case but not all of the time.

Eventually, everyone has something that can become problematic, and I believe that most of the time, these little issues need to be addressed up front; before they explode...just like that single piece of cereal.

You can put your own instances here (like how habitually driving "The Corridor" makes it nearly impossible to drive 55 on Patterson Creek!), but the ones that come to my mind includes that first drink that never ends.  The first overdraft fee that results in hundreds of lost dollars.  The first jab that leads to years of bullying. The missed credit card payment...The gradual weight gain...So many scenarios crossed my mind from just one piece of dropped cereal.

It also goes along with the Song of Solomon 2:15. It is often the little things that we let go that cause us the most problems later on; Solomon referred to them as "The little foxes." If mommy had just picked up the ball of cereal immediately, her son wouldn't have stepped on it; if he hadn't have stepped on it, it wouldn't have broken into multiple crumbs; if he hadn't smashed the crumbs into the carpet, housekeeping wouldn't need to drag out the sweeper...I hope you can visualize the spiraling scene.

There is a similar but positive impact of living life on purpose. By fixing things as they happen. It isn't always easy to pick up that one piece of cereal, to say no, to slow down, to walk away...but in the end, it is a lot easier than trying to pick up crumbs.

In Christ with love and compassion - Coach Kelly