"Mommy, I have a problem"

Today was just one of those days. The kind where everyone is out of sorts and can't seem to be happy no matter what.

This morning was bible study, so we got everyone dressed and out the door, but not before the bickering started. Before we'd made the 10 minute trip to the church, the girls had declared they were no longer sisters and had, in fact, begun to deny each other's existence at all.

After classes were over, we settled back in the car and the girls picked their argument up exactly where they had left it off a couple of hours before. Sigh....

Through lunch and a run to the bank to deposit yet more girl scout cookie money, it just got worse. For the sake of my last nerve, I instituted martial law and demanded absolute silence for the rest of the trip home.

Once home, things cleared up some and an uneasy peace was reached only by limiting the interactions of my sweet daughters. After awhile, we packed up for a trip to the post office with a promised stop at the mall to spend a Build-a-Bear certificate. Both girls put on their shoes, loaded their cannons, and let each other have it before we'd even made it out the door.

So I called off the trip and sent them to their rooms. Because no one should have to put with that.

While in her room, L decided to do some reading and ended up with most of the books from the bottom shelf of her bookcase scattered on the floor. Being the responsible little angel that she is, she decided to put them all back. Then, naturally, dissolved into wailing sobs when it proved a harder task than she liked. I heard her from the living room as she cried and I could barely make out the words, "Mommy! I have a problem!" I walked to her open door and saw her sitting on the floor working hard at those crocodile tears. She never even turned to look at me as she continued her fit.

It struck me how often we do exactly the same thing. We see a task that needs to be done, so we jump in head first. Soon we are overwhelmed as we realize that our own strength and ability isn't enough and we start crying out for God to help us. Unfortunately, we're so busy wallowing in self-pity that we never turn our heads and open our eyes to see that God is standing right there with us the whole time. Once we do see Him, we expect Him to jump in and solve our problems, completing the task for us. If He chooses, like I did, to help by teaching us how to do the work ourselves, we fall back into our pity party feeling betrayed because God didn't just fix it miraculously. We can't see that it's far better to learn by doing and experiencing the hard things than to simply be rescued.

And that's my deep and profound thought for the day. Thank you, thank you very much.