As it turns out - I like asymmetry best on my terms. Example: On my way home from grocery shopping - The Stig calls to give me a "heads-up!"
"The girls moved in together, " he said matter of factually. "I dozed off and E said something about how she wanted to sleep in A's room... forever... and then next thing I knew she had moved her stuff into A's room."
"WhAt?" I groaned. This was not part of my PLAN for Saturday. I had laughingly posted to FB this morning that we were on plan #852 (after having exhausted both the English and Greek alphabets worth of letters in ONE morning!)... but this was taking my flexibly and bending me into GUMBY! I mean I was just getting used to the idea that the crib that had formerly occupied one wall of our home for the last 7.6 years, was in fact on it's way out the door. I was coping (I thought) pretty well with these new changes... making plans to sew a tutu-bedskirt with my mother-in-love.
"Just remember that from the day we knew that "a" was coming, you wanted them to be best friends for life. This is just them trying to find their way. E needs you to allow her to try this out - it will only take about five nights of "A" talking her ear off and they'll soon be back to sleeping in their own pre-appointed rooms, " the Stig encouraged. I was not so easily encouraged.
Later that day, "A" asks me to take a picture of her hands cupped round four tiny M&M's... I resist the urge to grab one out to "make a better shot"... and she tells me, "There's one here for everyone in my family!" Now the shot that had formerly looked "artistically bleh" becomes something precious and sacred. Because I realize - there are FOUR of us - nothing asymmetric there. And I TOTALLY dig that we are four.
Last night (five nights on the dot) we put the girls to bed at 8:15 PM and for the next three hours we laughed and listened as E tried to reason with her four year old roommate, "You have to stop talking! Okay... I have a plan... You lay your head down and I'll tell you a story!" (*ten minutes time elapses*) "Yeah... Now you REALLY have to close your mouth... I've got another plan... this time you whisper quietly into your pillow while I fall asleep." (*more time passes*) "Enough already! Daddy!"
The Stig looks over at me this morning with that "I told you so" grin he's so good at. The girls were impossible to wake up - mainly because they had pulled the seven & four year-old equivalent of an "all nighter!" I had to admit - it was pretty funny - even if we were thirty minutes late for school!
Jeremiah 29:11 talks about God having a plan. Plans that include hope and future - but don't necessarily guarantee symmetry and balance. I wonder if He looks at my attempts at life and laughs as I try to convince Him, "Okay... I've got a plan. You lay your head down and I'll tell you how this should go!" Does He shake his head and gets the giggles when I try to "perfect" His perfect plans. Does He look at my hands holding four sticky projects and think, "Man, I wish she'd picked up a better number than FOUR!" or does He pour into my outstretched hand more blessings that my dirty palms can contain?
I just love that the Stig was right - the girls are headed back to their own rooms tonight, and without my losing my grip on life over it (*pause and celebrate growth with me!*) And I'm also glad that God's math/balance isn't exactly like mine. Two, Three, Six, Eight... Who do we appreciate?
Isn't God a hoot?
More of you God... less of me!
No comments:
Post a Comment