I can't help it. I have ALWAYS cut my waffles along the lines. And my pancakes - I don't just start hacking away, I use straight lines to cut those too. I eat M&Ms two at a time, one for each side of my mouth and if I end up with one at the end, I bite it in half. It may sound a little bit OCD, but I've come to realize that I am very detailed when it comes to things that I can control.

I think I've mentioned this book before: Be Joyful (Philippians): Even When Things Go Wrong, You Can Have Joy (The BE Series Commentary). It's a great book for helping people, like me, who are looking for balance, happiness, joy. One of the things I remember (mostly because I taught the lesson) is that people worry about things they have no control over. So I guess it stands to reason, that if you're looking for balance or control, a sensible person would be attentive to the things they can control rather than worry over the things they cannot control. 

Stop me if I'm rationalizing...

I've had a REALLY rough last few days. Between being upset with my husband, trying to control my three little boys and being frustrated that I wasn't able to work - I was absolutely out of control. I'm even slightly annoyed today at the prospect of having to wait for my Mom to get here so I can go close some deals...three deals to be exact.

This may sound cheesy, but I promise that it's worked for me and even better than that, it has worked for me every time I've done it: I say a prayer to God, asking for guidance, a lesson, some message that He would have me learn to come closer to Him. Then I open my Bible and read. I always find my answers in there.

I guess I know what I have to do today: take full accountability for the things I can control, let my kids have fun rather than try to keep my thumb on them, be patient and happy when I see my Mom and say a prayer.

*whew* balance or bust!

Today would have been the day that we completed our study of the book, Be Joyful by Warren Wiersbe. I got to teach two lessons and had the pleasure of sitting in on six others; falling quite short of all 13 lessons. What a great book though. The last lesson I taught was about worry...and what a perfect topic for a mother of three young boys. I could probably list about a hundred things to worry about, even with my sons at the young ages of only four and two.

Did you know that 92% of the things we worry about are either imaginary, out of our control or never really happened. Seriously? Wow. Well, I guess I can confirm that with my own experiences. I used to worry about getting into an accident on the way to work each morning. I used to worry about getting into confrontations with disgruntled customers. I used to worry about a lot of stuff that was both imaginary and completely out of my control.

I've tried not to worry much lately. Of course there are always those weak moments; like when a cop pulls up behind you and you do a 150 point evaluation of your vehicle (tail lights, fog lights, windows, mirrors, stickers, etc.), do you have your seat belt on, are you going over or under the speed limit, are your tags current? do you have a warrant for your arrest, did you pay that last parking ticket, did you take your husbands undercover weapon out of the glove-box? Yeah, I get carried away and let my instinctual fear of authority cause me panic and indigestion for a moment...don't we all?

So, the other day, I called my husband and said, "honey, I taught the boys how to climb trees!" "You did WHAT?" was the reaction from the other end of the phone. Now, I suppose there could be a few different trains of thought on this topic, so allow me to explain my logic:

1. Teach the boys how to climb up, so they are confident in their abilities and know how to do it safely.
2. Teach the boys how to climb down, so they don't get stuck at the top of the tree, panic and fall.
3. Let them fall (maybe a few inches) so that they know how it feels and will be more cautious.
4. Offering instruction on the art of climbing trees will prevent accidents and instill confidence.

You tracking? I know, it's a little far-fetched...but climbing trees is fun and I think my main motivation behind the training was to eliminate worry from the equation. Boys - kids - will find a tree and climb it at some point in their adolescence; I feel like I'm ahead of the curve in showing them the proper and safe way to do so!

Twisted maybe...welcome to my mind!