Traffic Jam

I always ask myself, 'why do I always have to make things so difficult?', as though life could be a lot simpler. You know? Do you ever find yourself so close to almost literally pulling your hair out? I DO!
I decided to pack up and drive to the Twin Cities (MN) and run to a couple of stores, only, I got a little bit of a later start... like noon. Yeah, I'll never do that again. I kept telling myself in my head that if I was going to do that, that I need to leave a lot earlier... say like, 9 or 10am. But, I went anyway. My son was a little trooper though, I must say, with me dragging him to each destination and trying his patience through what I thought I might possibly bypass - - traffic. And lots of it. This............... is what why I wanted to pull my hair out. This, was when I was telling myself once again, that if I'd left earlier or chosen a different day and left way earlier I could have missed entirely. But alas, as I look at my son in the rear view mirror, he's making funny faces and smiling at me while I'm just wanting to go faster than 5 mph.

Here's the thing though, I should have been taking cues from my little boy in the backseat. Because here I was struggling with the idea of laaaaying on my horn to no end and letting a few unmentionables fly outta my mouth (although, I would never do that - it's totally out of character for me.  :?  ) and then here's this little boy just watching all these crazy people in their cars slowly drift by and he's lovin' life. He's got his little snacks and sippy cup, his life's a parade! Why can't I have that outlook.......... even when I'm stuck in traffic?  Hmmm.... I needed a change in perspective.

Why do we get so silly frusterated when things don't go our way or as quick as we would like them to? Are we really that stubborn and self-absorbed??  I think as a society, we have a lot of growing up to do. Jesus says to 'Cast our cares upon him..... lay our head upon his shoulders for his yoke is easy...' why don't we do that more often? I think we forget that no matter how frusterated, irritated, upset, distraught, sad, angry we get that yes, he DOES care. He is ok with our 'messes' and still loves us. But we need to tell him about it and allow him to help us though it. It's what he does best.... love and compassion.

So, I look at my son and he looks at me. I stick my tongue out at him and he laughs. That was worth all the hairpulling in the world if you ask me!