Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Eye Opener

Oh, the best laid plans.....
Yesterday, I had lofty ideas of doing some housekeeping, starting work on reorganizing the classroom and grabbing a few groceries after a late lunch with friends. Sounds totally fab, right?Well, Ty woke up with his left eye completely swollen shut.
No-can-do on the house stuff or the lunch because, of course, there were no Dr. appointments and we had to do the dreaded "work-in", which is usually translated "wait for 3.75 hours before being seen". However, we were pleasantly surprised when we were seen almost immediately after we arrived. :)
The Dr. looked around in Ty's eye with his light, but couldn't see anything, then he flipped his eyelid (completely gross) and still nothing. He ended up putting some kind of dye into his eye and turning out all of the lights before he found a small scratch caused by some unknown debris. He went whitewater rafting/camping with Mark and the scouts over the weekend, so it may have been sand or something that had already made its way out...
Anyway, the Dr. informed us that eyes are one of the fastest things of the body to heal and that it should be fine by today. So, he put some antibiotic lubricant in it and pirate-patched him up.
Here is a shot of him watching from the risers as his brother did gymnastics last evening. He was really sick of being the spectator by this point. It looked so much worse than it actually was with that gigantor thing on there!



Despite having all of that go on, though, we actually had a nice day. I am slowly but surely learning to "roll with the punches" when unexpected things arise by recognizing them as the providence of God for that day. I am realizing that my attitude about everything directly affects the way each situation is perceived by the rest of my family.
I won't lie to you; Yesterday, when I saw Ty's eye, I was so disappointed that things weren't going to get done *yet again*. But, I realized that I was at a crossroads with my attitude. I could make the best of it, still showing kindness, joy and love to those around me....or I could be a complete stressed-out hag who was worrying about my 10 mile long to-do list making everyone around me want to poke their eyes out. I had to choose the former and simply trust God with the rest.
I teach my kids that having a sweet spirit and a gentle attitude will draw people to Christ way better than a harsh, pushy or self-serving one will (duh!), but God quickly reminded me that I am not just the teacher of His truth, but His appointed example even more.
Hope you all have a great day!

6 comments:

javamamma said...

God's been showing me that, as the woman of the home (my domain) I'm the one responsible for the atmosphere in our home. Youch. Thanks for the convicting reminder about my attitude. :o)

Caroline said...

Great blog!

Poor guy. That looks like it hurt.

Andrea said...

Maybe we should hang out, so that your good attitude could rub off on this short-fused big prego chick!
I'll try to be nicer tomorrow...kay!;-)

Brigitte said...

Awesome - we all need an attitude check every now and then. Thanks for this one.

wendy's world said...

Ouch! Please get off my toes (did you notice I said "Please" ha ha)
OK, being the control freak that I am, I am TRYING to learn this same lesson...not easy!!! Thanks for the reminder!

Karen Hossink said...

VERY, VERY well said, Gayle!
God knows what we "need" to do and He isn't the least bit concerned about when we'll get to it. He can handle it! How much better it is when we're sensitive to the things He's wanting to "get done" in us!