Aren't Sundays nice? Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. I do love the family day aspect and I am lucky enough to work a job that I can enjoy every Sunday afternoon with my loved ones. My hubby unfortunately does not have that luxury. He tries to take this day off as often as possible so that we can have a family day but as he works as a department manager for a grocery store he tries to be fair and let others also enjoy the day with their families. (He really is a good guy like that :) But I love when we can get up as family, get ready for church and worship together. Well here is the part when you just have to try. I have been an overprotective (with many many reasons - some good some just first time mom jitters :) mom of our little one. I haven't let my little guy out of my sight too often unless relatives have been around. I did try one time recently to drop my son off in a church nursery but I knew the caregiver and he was playing with one of his cousins. But today we did the big moment. We dropped off our little boy who is growing up way too fast with our church nursery. And both him and his mommy did great! He dove to one of the caregiver's arms for a cuddle (which lasted almost the entire hour :) And I'll admit a little bit of jealousy - it was really nice to sit with my hubby the ENTIRE church service including the whole sermon! It has been awhile since we have been able to do that since we have a babblin' toddler. Our son tends to have something LOUD to say just about the same time our pastor wants to start his sermon. So me and my little guy have tried to discreetly slip out so we can crawl and babble without competition. So that was successful attempt number one.
Our other milestone as a family was to have our son drink out of a straw. I tried to teach this feat quite awhile ago with little luck. Do you know how hard it is to demonstrate to a very young child how to suck up a drink through a straw? It is kind of like magic. Watch mommy put her lips around her straw. That is a pretty easy step to demonstrate. However the next step and the more important step a little challenging to teach. Now see how mommy sucks water through the non-clear straw. No you didn't see that? So without thinking about this lesson I just carried sippy cups in his bag. But play the disaster music in your head - dun dun dun - as a family we were going out to eat after church and major obstacle. I forgot to pack a sippy cup :( Oh no!!! We can't ask our kid to not have anything to drink since before church - eat lunch - and run errands without any beverage. So with a nervous request to the server we asked for a kids water. And wait for it - sure enough it comes with a straw - and the cup is pretty flimsy to attempt to drink from (and that takes a lot of rhythm and timing - not my strong suit). So nervously I hold the sippy cup in front of my son - angle the straw towards him - and success (play celebratory music)! What? When did this guy pick up such a tricky skill? I'll confess after a unsuccessful attempt the first time I figured let's chalk off this skill for a good couple of years and try again when we both speak the same language fluently :) But no today was the day to drink from a straw because we simply tried.
It's a long story for a simple concept - but aren't we all guilty of writing ourselves off or others because the first try wasn't a marvelous success. Many of us have tried many diets and say to ourselves after the last defeat " It's not going to happen for me. " Or perhaps we look for a job and go on many interviews that end with the all too common "We appreciate your interest but have decided to go another route - blah blah blah" . Its hard not to get discouraged. Especially it seems the harder you try or the more you want something the deeper "the failure" wounds your spirit. I like to get things right the first time. I like to be that star rookie who was meant to complete a certain challenge. But you only get a few times in your life to have that moment. And if we wait only for what we believe to be our guaranteed success stories we all tend to wait a little too long on the sidelines and miss those moments of learning that actually triple our chances of success, happiness, and opportunities that are far better than what we could even imagine. This message "Sometimes you have to just try..." is the foundation of why I write this blog. I realized that several years ago for too many years I had let fear not only control my choices but paralyze me from attempting almost anything. So slowly I began to challenge myself. Share my weight. Share my struggles. Attempt activities that seemed impossible. And to not be afraid of falling or failing. And even if I was to be afraid (because I am me through this whole journey and I can be a bit of scaredy cat!) to not let my fear paralyze me and keep from living. I have fallen many times on this journey. Sometimes, I have taken myself off the path and hid in the bushes for what seems forever. But then I remember I don't have to achieve guaranteed success in ALL of my attempts but that sometimes I do have to just try. . .
May your HealthFULL (Fully Understand Life by Living) Journey celebrate your successess especially the successes that came after many attempts, challenges, and the occasional heartbreak. 'Til we meet again . . .
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