Keep Calm and Carry On

Have you ever really, realllllly wanted – even needed - something to happen… and it didn’t?

Of course you have. We wouldn’t be human if we got everything we ever wanted. But sometimes, it seems kind of cruel, doesn’t it?

Remember the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate factory - I love this movie. I think it borders on profound. It’s like a brochure on the evils of greed, gluttony, and selfishness. The hero is none of those things; the other children are all of those things. The hero survives; the others are destroyed by their impulsiveness, obnoxiousness, and covetousness.

They see something, they need to have it, they go out and get it.

They’re not much different than you and I.

We see something, we need to have it, we go out and get it, don’t we?

These past four months I’ve struggled with situational contentment. An issue we’ve prayed for hasn’t changed; a situation we’ve needed to resolve has remained the same. I feel ready to break, and yet, there’s been no give.

I used to believe we’re not given more than we can handle. Now I feel like that can’t be right.

Sure, I’m not the kids in this story. My biggest problem is not whether or not I get an invitation to a chocolate factory, or how much TV I get to watch, or if I’m the world record gum chewer.

My problem is actually a legitimate problem. What I want seems pretty reasonable.

But you can’t always get what you want.

The thing about these seasons where you can’t get what you want is that it makes it very hard to watch other people seem to get what they want. It makes it very hard to hear other people muse about your reality as hypothetical situations -‘if I were you, I’d do this…‘ I want to be teachable. I want to be open. I want to grow. But something I wish I could tell the world, "guess what, you don’t have those things. Be happy and stop talking."

So today, I’m going to get up and do the things I need to do. I’m going to go about my day and be thankful. I’m going to care for my husband. I’m going to clean my house. I’m going to make dinner. I’m going to take the puppy for a walk. I’m going to wash those clothes, I’m going to . .. … .. …

The more I do those things, the more thankful I am for all of those things I need to do.

We are blessed by abundance. Sometimes we just need eyes to see it.

Perhaps, if we got everything we needed, we’d never see those things.

So, in case any of you are in one of those seasons where you desperately need something to change and, for some bizarre reason, it just won’t, know that there’s at least one other person fighting hard to

keep calm and carry on.

It’s going to be okay. Really. Realllllly. We can do it.

Blessings