Simple Wins

Sticky Situation There are some things you just never forget. They stick in your mind for all kinds of reasons. For me, the following incident was steeped in embarrassment. It was one of those moments when you want the earth to open up and swallow you. This involved my little Gracie. She’s the youngest of my 4 kids and she’s a young woman these days. This incident took place when she was still at Primary School. Prior to this incident, she had been awake for most of the night claiming to have some mysterious abdominal pain. She’d made a number of visits to our bedroom during the night. Each visit was accompanied with moans and groans. She was doubled over and claimed to be unable to sleep because of the pain. I did what every responsible parent does and consulted Google. The symptoms didn't seem to match anything sinister. Back to bed with some Dymadon. Just to be cautious, we decided to keep her home from school. Of course, literally moments after the first school bell rang at 9.00 am, there seemed to be a Lazarus style recovery. We went to the Doctor nonetheless and watched a bit of television together at home. I had a conference with a client in the afternoon. I had scheduled the conference the week before (at which time I assumed I would be without a child). I had no option but to take the cute rascal with me to my office. This turned out to be the all-time professional low light of my career. I gave Gracie some very strict instructions that she was to remain in either the adjoining office or in the boardroom. She was not to enter my office. I set about taking instructions from my client and his wife. He had engaged me to act on his behalf in his criminal proceeding in the Magistrates’ Court. I was seated at my substantial leather-topped desk sitting opposite my client and his wife. I was attempting to look professional and engaged. Approximately 20 minutes into the conference, Gracie decided to give me a message. At any other moment in time, I would have gladly received a message from her. On this occasion, however, the timing couldn't have been worse. Actually, it wasn't so much the timing as the way in which the message was delivered. Gracie found a long stick standing in a huge vase in the foyer. It was part of a funky decorative style arrangement outside my office. The stick was over 2 metres long. She’d pulled one of the sticks out of the oversized decorative vase. She’d then (without my knowledge) set about on a small project. She fossicked around the office and found some sticky-notes upon which she’d written a little message. She’d then skewered to the end of the stick her little yellow sticky note with the following message: “My tummy hurts, I love you.” The stick was gradually poked into my office from the foyer. The client and his wife had their backs to it, but I had a perfect view. While trying to sound intelligent, I could see the stick (and the sticky note) hovering within a couple of inches of the wife's left shoulder. Meanwhile I’m desperately trying to appear calm and intelligent. The client’s wife saw it first. It just about took out her left ear. When she noticed it in her peripheral vision, she was startled. Neither of them knew that I had my daughter sitting in the adjacent office and they certainly didn’t expect a dancing sticky note to mysteriously appear in the middle of our conference. I did what I could to keep things together. Inside I was experiencing a mixture of embarrassment, disapproval and wild hilarity. Despite being quite cross, it was one of the funniest things I had seen in a long time. When the sticky note arrived directly under my nose, bobbing up and down on the end of the stick, I simply removed it and read the message. I then tried to get on with the conference as if things like this happened to me every day. It's fair to say that our children give us our best and worst moments. You'll all be able to think of moments when you wanted the ground to open up and swallow you whole. These are the moments that we will all look back on and laugh about even if they don't seem too funny at the time. We constantly talk to our kids about being resilient. I know I do. But we don't often turn our minds towards the levels of resilience that are required for parenting. They're huge. We need resilience in spades. Have a think about the aspects of your parenting that need a shot of resilience. Maybe it's your patience, your reactions and responses, your temper, or your approach to boundaries. Each of us needs to keep evaluating the way that we interact with our kids. Read books, talk to other parents, sign up for parenting courses and make it your business to be the best Mum, Dad, Grandparent or carer in the entire universe. In Psalm 34, King David writes about a God that provides us with all the resources that we need. God is both our provider and our protector. He answers our prayers when we bring them before Him: Psalm 34 v 4 – 10: I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles. For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. So, if you don’t feel that you have the resources to deal with the issues that you are currently facing, ask for them. Take refuge in God and trust in Him. Imagine that, “those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy.” Assurances don’t get much better than that!