If you don't want to get wet…

People are funny. Yesterday we were at a splash pad in a nearby town.  The kind of splash pad with the guns that shoot water and buckets that dump on you at any given time, plus random water shooting out of the ground. Fun, right? I had the 4 kids in swimsuits, towels packed, sunscreen…on half of the kids 🙂  We were ready!! We pull up and the 2 big kids run out of the car and start playing.  While we get the 2 little ones out of their car seats, and get over there, we see another family under a little pavilion on the edge of the splash pad. As I am finishing getting sunscreen on the other 2 kids, I hear this lady saying, “Seriously?  You did that on purpose!” And I look and she is yelling this at my 5 year old!  Well, if you have kids, the mama bear feeling can come out when someone else is correcting or yelling at your kids! Especially when it seems unmerited. So, I stop what I am doing and say, “excuse me ma’am – what happened?”  She said – “HE SPRAYED ME WITH THE WATER ON PURPOSE!”.  I slowly say , “No, he is a kind boy, and he is simply playing at a water park.  The gun happened to be pointed at you and you were standing where it sprayed when it went off, he did not do this on purpose”.  Then I tell my son – “Jaxon – go apologize to her”. When he goes over there, and says sorry to her, she says – “oh, it’s okay honey.” At this point – I am super confused. This lady is at a water park. She has just screamed at me and my son. Now we are all supposed to act like nothing happened. Let me remind you, we were at a water park! Well, this incident, like many that happen, got me thinking about our spiritual life.  How many times do we get “sprayed with the water” by life, and we are shocked when bad things hit us? What I mean is that we often put ourselves in situations that are not good, or situations that are hard, and then we are upset or surprised when we things don’t go our way. How often do I set myself up to be hurt and then get mad when I am hurt? How many times do I keep going back to….. a bad habit, or an unhealthy friendship, or turning to food when I am stressed, or spending an unhealthy amount of time on social media, or a choosing to be involved in a work situation that isn’t good?  How many times do I eat way too much of something that I know will make me feel yucky the next day? Each of these things can leave us feeling inadequate, frustrated, or not good enough.   However, each time I face these things, I hope things will be different.  But they aren’t.  I still leave feeling bad or negative, and basically like I have been sprayed in the face with water!! It shouldn’t surprise us like it does, but here is the funny part…I am surprised EVERY time it happens!!  Sadly, I find myself continuing to go back and open myself up to get hurt!!  Why? I started to realize that I had a choice.  I could continue to do the same things, expecting a different result, OR I could change something, and avoid the situation that was causing me so much harm, and try something NEW!  What? I could spend some time in prayer and change some actions to hope for a different result! Lesson:  Don’t stand in the way of a water sprayer and expect not to get sprayed! I am not saying we can avoid every bad thing that comes our way.  But what I am saying, is we can take some action steps to not set ourselves up to get hurt or frustrated or feel like a failure quite as easily!!  And if we do get sprayed by a life situation, we can not get mad at the situation that is spraying us,  if we had a choice to stand there in the first place! There is power in choice, and we are capable of making choices that benefit us and those around us, rather than hurt us and frustrate us.  Sometimes we just need to move. Maybe, just maybe if we move out of the way, or stand in a new spot, or try a new path, or adopt a new habit, we can stay dry!! I think I will try this today… –Rachel Curtis Founder of P31 Fitness]]>