Today I woke up with a verse in my head. I had no idea why this particular verse was on my mind, because I hadn't read it or thought about it recently. As my day progressed, it started to become clear why I had been given this particular verse to meditate on.
I went to work this morning in a fairly cheerful mood; Anna was staying with her daddy for a little while so I could be able to work, since I had a lot to do to get the ice cream shop ready to open. I had a fairly long to-do list, which started with making chocolate chip cookies.
I can't count the number of times I have made chocolate chip cookies. I do this recipe at least twice a week. Needless to say, I could probably make cookies with my eyes closed. Today, I needed two batches: one to sell in the shop, and one special order with no walnuts. I whipped up the first batch with half of my mind somewhere else. I then realized that I had put in four eggs because I had looked at the brownie recipe by accident. The recipe only calls for one. Needless to say, that batch was worthless. I tried again. With the next batch, I used the wrong sized scoop and my cookies were incredibly thin and burned on the bottom. The third batch was much darker than the others because the mixer vaporized some of the chocolate chips when I stepped away from it. Only the fourth batch that I made was problem-free. But despite how insanely frustrated I was with my failures, the same verse kept ringing in my mind and reminding me how blessed I am.
The bright spots in my cookie fiasco: I learned three ways NOT to bake cookies. I also did not have to worry about taking care of Anna while I was so frustrated because my wonderful husband was watching her.
The rest of my morning was pretty uneventful; a few of my bags of ice cream mix had holes in them and leaked all over the kitchen, and the cans of pumpkin I bought were the wrong kind and didn't have spices in them, and I probably ran into, knocked over, or bumped my shins on at least ten different things. We were extremely busy when we finally did open, and my poor baby was in a very bad mood. All the same, I repeated the same words over and over without even having to try.
Halfway through the afternoon, I was making a bucket of pumpkin ice cream. For those that don't know, making ice cream involves mixing the liquid milk base with whatever flavoring you need. For this one, it was a can of pumpkin pie mix (or in this case, pure pumpkin with the spices I had to run home for, since I bought the wrong thing ;) ) and a can of evaporated milk. You then pour these into the ice cream machine and let it mix and freeze for 18 minutes. I poured in the ingredients for the ice cream and set the timer. 18 minutes later, I came back and opened the door and quickly realized that I had forgotten to set the machine to freeze the liquid mix. It poured all over me, the floor, the table, and basically the entire kitchen.This was just the cherry on top of my wonderful day, resulting in me having to rush home to change my shirt, pants, and even shoes.
The bright spot in my ice cream debacle: I was able to go home and take a (very, very quick) shower. Even though it was hurried and not very relaxing, it felt good on my tired feet and legs.
And even still, the Lord kept giving me those two lines that I needed to get me through the day.
The day wore on and I was so, so tired. I was hungry, and exhausted, and I wanted to go home. Everything on me hurt. Somehow, though, I found myself repeating the same words over and over again to myself.
Now, as I sit and reflect on my horrible day, I realize it wasn't so bad. There are so many days I've had that have been ten times worse, and so many people have had days a hundred times worse than anything I've ever been through. But even though what seemed miserable at the time was so inconsequential, I am still so glad for that sweet reminder from God that everything will be okay. The Lord takes care of us, even in the smallest of ways.
The verse that got me through this day?
Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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