let me see the straws

It’s the little things in life.

Like straws. Elijah, my sweet and busy Elijah, came to me running and jumping and full of joy due to the straws that I had purchased at the store for root beer floats. It’s the best day ever he shouted. All because I spent an entire $1.39 and purchased those neon straws. You got the special ones, not the striped ones he exclaimed. Every single day since he pulls out a straw for his drinks – water, milk, and sometimes, if he’s lucky, some iced tea. Those one cent a piece straws bring him joy.

When did I lose the joy in straws? I let the little things bother me. Like the rips in my couch downstairs {okay, maybe not a little thing, but in perspective of real troubles, a little thing}. I go down there and I’m stressed. Irritated. Letting that old couch define me. I’m embarrassed. Then I quickly try to cover it up knowing full well that a little one will rip off the cover in play seconds later. How come I can’t see the straw joys in life?

Reminders. And that same excited little Elijah is also the same one who has rules in our home like you may jump from the second step down to the ground and no racing at full speed in the kitchen and please don’t go to the top of your bed {it’s a car shape} and jump to the floor. He’s precocious, challenging, feisty and determined. I love it about him. Yesterday, when I picked him up from church his teacher, my friend, tells me how sweet Elijah is. Those words bless me – I don’t know what I’m going to hear when I pick him up – and yet, today she took time to tell me how sweet he was to her. How he sat and listened and was grateful to be there. She was seeing the beauty in the straws with him – too often I’m looking at the other.

I want to see the straws not the rips. It’s so easy to get caught up seeing all the wrong things. Well, let me tell you, if you saw the couch you’d see why I’d get stressed, but uh {and this is hard to admit}, it’s really not about that couch. It’s not about me looking a certain way, but it’s rather about me seeing a certain way. Being grateful for that couch, for my home, and seeing the straw moments in life. Would I be absolutely thrilled and grateful for a new couch – yes. But, I can’t let that sour my mood and let me miss out on the good. It’s the same with mothering – how much do I miss simply because I’m looking at the rips and not the straws?

Hard to do. The older I get the easier it is to let the worries, frustrations, and things to do overwhelm me. There’s simply too much, honestly. And then there’s the medical stuff, relationships, finances, all smooshed in together creating a load to heavy for myself. It’s easier to sit in the other stuff and lose the beauty found in the little things. In the straws.

Finding joy. It’s like looking for the straw moments in life. They’re tucked in their, nestled among the busy, waiting to be found. Honestly, I think it’s about putting on those four year old glasses to view the world – those glasses that let you see the little things and then being open enough to letting those little things bring joy. Without joy there’s bitterness. You know how everything has an opposite? Well, I’m starting to believe that the opposite of joy is bitterness. And I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose today because I’m bitter about the past, or where things are now – so I’m seeking, with a heart awake, joy – straw seeking joy.

Elijah, the Straw Seeker. He sees the straws. He doesn’t see the rip in the couch – but if I bring it up he’ll learn to get stressed about that. He gets that joy doesn’t have a price, parameters, and doesn’t need things to look perfect. Joy is the posture of the heart. So, today, I’m going to be watching him. Learning. Grateful to be his mom. Intentional. And thankful for a little box of $1.39 neon straws.

Look for the straws today. Seek joy.

 

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