I Think I’ll Move to Australia

One of my favorite books growing up was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  After a particularly hard day at school, I’d get in the car and say to my mother, “I think, I’ll move to Australia.”  That was our code for today was awful and I need it to get better.  My mother would always find a way to brighten my day and sometimes she’d offer to move with me.  Now that I’m an adult I still have those days.  I call my mother on the way home from work and just say “Call me Alexander.” She laughs and then listens to me talk about my day and she usually finds a bright spot to make it better.

Yesterday was definitely one of those days when I wanted to move to Australia.  It was a particularly hard day at my office and then my coach had a difficult day as well. Things are changing in both of our work worlds and some uncertainty lies ahead.  

My coach had a late booster club meeting at school and I needed someone to process my day with me.  As I was driving through the neighborhood I called my friend Jennifer and asked if she was busy. She knows me well enough to know I needed to talk and she offered a glass of wine and hot out of the oven snicker doodles and apple crisp. I was in her driveway in a matter of seconds.   Jennifer was just the right person to give me the comfort I needed.  I’m blessed to have a great friend who happens to be part of the pastoral staff of our church and has kids in our school district. She’s able to see both my personal life and our coaching life on a daily basis and that along with her job in ministry gives her a unique perspective. She helped me process the events of the day. We cried, we laughed and after a couple of hours I left feeling better.

One of the things that we discussed while I was there was to remember to focus on the good things.  When we are going through difficult times it’s easy to turn from the positive and immediately focus on the negative.  Then those negative thoughts turn into fear and fear leads the imagination to run rampant and that doesn’t do anyone and good when that happens. 

The phrase “do not be afraid” is written in the Bible 365 times.  I love the fact that the Lord gave us a verse for each day of the year about not being afraid.  The key is to remember these verses on a daily basis and sometimes it might be an hour by hour or minute by minute kind of thing.

While writing this, my phone rang and it was my mother checking in on me this afternon. She said that she was praying for me and reminded me of what I had told one of our football boys just last week.  The Lord is in control. We need only to be still and listen and wait.  His plan is better than anything we can imagine.  We just need to pray and listen for His answer and He will guide us.

Remembering that is way better than letting fear and my imagination run rampant. Right now I’m praying for peace and to be able to walk without fear.

John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

So for now, I won't be moving to Australia and I'll stay right here and see what the Lord has in store.

Cheering you on,
Laurel