Melting Ice Cream

It's been such a while since I've had time to update on here. Mostly, I've made simple notations of our daily life on my large planner that I keep with me. I'll have to go back and update the kids' books, as well, as soon as I have time. Probably in 2027. At least I have a target date, right?

The reason I hopped on here was to remember what I learned from my almost 7-year-old son. I was putting the baby down for a nap while he was outside playing with C after school. I heard him calling me while I was up in E's room. I got her settled and rushed out back to see what was happening. As soon as I arrived where he was standing, my ears heard the telling melody of the ice-cream truck in the distance. He wanted my confirmation that he did hear the ice cream truck, and my permission to go wait for the courier of sweet treats to arrive in our cul-de-sac.

I granted permission for he and his sister to go watch for it's arrival at the end of the driveway (while I sat on the front porch). As I listened to the melody play, I realized it was moving away from us. I began to think of my children's disappointment. In all our years living here, with all of the children around in our neighborhood, the ice cream truck has graced our cul-de-sac once. Seriously. And, to add insult to injury, L was recently devastated during a baseball practice that the ice cream truck paraded around the parking lot for the duration of his practice but was gone when he had permission to visit it after practice.

So, I decided to surprise them with their own ice cream treats. I prepared vanilla ice cream with pink and purple sugar sprinkles for C and an ice cream sandwich for L. While C dove right in to her bowl, L held his sandwich in his hand while he ran from one end of the yard to the other to listen for the ice cream truck's music or to catch a glimpse of it in the neighborhood that backs up to ours. By the time he go around to eating it, the sandwich was mushy. He was so disappointed, again.

How many times do we as Christians do that same thing? How many times do we want our plan to work out or think that goal we are striving for or that job or that house will be so perfect for us that we spend so much time letting the blessing God has placed in our hands get mushy? How much more would we enjoy the blessing if we just let go of OUR desires and focus on His? Mnay times He wants the same things for us; those things can be part of His plan. He wants us to acknowledge Him first, rather than thank Him as an afterthought.

I explained this thought to Luke as best I could. He seemed to understand when I put it like this, "What were you going to buy from the ice cream truck, L?" His response was, "An ice cream sandwich like this one." Then I asked how much money he spent on the sandwich he was given. I asked him if God likes to give us blessings, to which he affirmatively replied. In this case, the money savings spoke to Luke. I'm not trying to create a greedy, money hungry child. But, I knew he'd see the point using this means to illustrate it for him.

The thought that this seemingly delightful treat has stayed just out of reach for him reminded me of how much time we spend planning our scenarios. God doesn't need us to plan it out. He needs us to obey and be faithful to Him. We need to trust Him and look around at the blessings He is placing in our hands.

My husband has been going through a struggle with his company. Being a small business owner is today's economy is not easy. We've seen God move in might ways, though, and I have learned to look for God's blessings in the difficult and trying days. It's so nice to know that God IS in the details of my life, dripping right off my fingers when I'm so caught up in the things I think are better. It's comforting to know He forgives me when I make my blessings mushy, and that His word tells me that all things work together for the good according to HIS purpose for those who believe in HIM.