If the events that have transpired in the past 24 hours had happened 2 years ago…today would be an I deserve a new pair of shoes day…aka…retail therapy to the rescue. While some seemingly lucky things have occured…like my mom and dad taking our kids for 24 hours this coming weekend so we can have a date night AND a chance day off from school due to dense fog this morning…a few other what you might call unlucky things have happened. Last night I accidentally…contrary to what my husband believes due to my desire for a new one because it only sometimes works anyway due to a little rain incident last summer…put my cell phone through the wash. This time rice is not working! 
Then this morning our little Houdini Jackson…oh the terrible 2’s…dumped an entire tub of A&D diaper cream (how he got the large round container unscrewed is BEYOND me!)…which has the consistency of Crisco…on top of his head. He was covered…head to toe…in grease. Trying to see the silver lining we have a great spiky hairdo without a single ounce of product after washing his hair 15 times in a bath lasting an hour consisting of 3 water changes which left one heck of a ring around the tub. Oh…and he or I won’t need lotion for approximately another month! Needless to say the emotional roller coaster I’ve been on today is reminiscent of being pregnant.
I often say to someone when they optimistically hope that something will happen that has a very slim chance of actually coming to fruition “Good luck with that!” in a slightly sarcastic way. You know like when someone you’re close to has the precise idea of exactly when and how their baby should be born…like the time of day, the length of labor including the severity of contractions and of course their little bundle HAS to be early…not a day later than this and certainly not a minute overdue. “Good luck with that!”…of course that comes from my experience realizing that wishing for things like that is pretty much futile and stems from our desire to control everything…which we do not. I used to hear that phrase a lot when I told people I had a rule that my children are not allowed to cry all at the same time. Dream on! What I’ve realized is that phrase isn’t one I should be using.
The word luck as defined by Merrium-Webster is as follows: a force that brings good fortune or adversity and/or the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual. In looking at the meaning of the word…I don’t actually believe in luck! And I’m Irish! If I believe what I say I believe and God is sovereign…having supreme power and authority…and in control of absolutely everything…then nothing…NOTHING is subject to happenstance. He is always for us…never against us as His children. That doesn’t mean we don’t mess up and suffer the consequences…it does mean He always loves us…and He will never leave us or forsake us. I don’t really like the phrase everything happens for a reason…mostly because it takes God out of the equation…but it really is true…even if I don’t understand or I would’ve chosen something different. I can’t see the whole picture. I can’t always understand why. There isn’t a single circumstance that comes into my life that doesn’t pass through God’s hands first…not merely “a force” but THE force behind anything and everything that ever occurs.
So while I might be fortunate to have a free day at home with my sweet kiddos and a generous opportunity to enjoy 24 hours with my wonderful husband…that also has been mixed in with no form of communication beyond the 4 walls of my home and of course a spiky-haired little grease monkey on my hands to which I am still finding little surprises here and there because of course it didn’t just stay on him…all of these things are in fact blessings…whether I see them as such or not. My peace in all of it…in everything does not come from hitting the mall this afternoon (not that I wasn’t tempted especially when a friend dropped off a Victoria’s Secret shoe catalog when she dropped her son off to play! They have the BEST shoes!)…but from the Lord knowing that everything He sends me is for a reason to show me that He is always good no matter how I am inconvenienced, no matter how I am feeling, no matter what I am facing. This St. Patrick’s Day I wonder…what do you think of the word “luck”?
Wonders of HIS Love 