My family loves pickles! So much so that we buy them by the gallon!
My daughter was preparing her lunch for school the other day when I heard from out in the mudroom (we have an extra fridge out there) a strangled cry of, “Mommmmm!” As I rushed out to see what was wrong I saw my daughter standing in the midst of a gallon’s worth of pickles and broken glass!
Now I admit, I will not be winning any, “Mother of the Year” award, because my focus first went to the pickle juice flowing under the refrigerator, under the nearby cabinets and towards a college daughter’s fabric suitcase. It wasn’t until I asked her why she wasn’t moving out of the mess and she meekly replied, “Mom, there’s glass,” that my attention abruptly shifted and my focus went to my daughter and that she could very well be hurt!
Luckily I had a bag of rags nearby and dumped them on the mess to stop the flow and was able to focus on my daughter and help her out. Did I mention, she was barefoot?!
My attention then went to seeing to the welfare of my daughter. She had a sliced toe and a shard of glass in her heel. I got her doctored up and on her way to school, a little late but no worse for wear.
As I was figuring out the best way to clean up that mess, all of a sudden my focus shifted once again, to one of immense gratitude! How did that huge jar of pickles not land on her bare foot?! Did you know a gallon jar of pickles weighs 12 pounds! Can you imagine the injury and damage that could have resulted from the weight, plus the huge and small jagged pieces of glass, if it had landed on her foot?!
Suddenly, the inconvenience became a time of gratitude and appreciation!
How often do we focus on the part of our life experience that is insignificant and unimportant? Sure, the glass, the pickle juice and smell may be difficult to clean up but more importantly my daughter was protected from what could have been a serious injury!
After the initial crisis passed, I could then easily focus on the miracle at hand. Too many times before, I would focus on the difficulty I was experiencing and completely miss the blessings to be found in the situation.
I invite you to become more aware of the blessings to be found in your experiences. They are there! And once you start paying attention you will begin noticing so many blessings and be amazed at the goodness that surrounds you!
Sending you blessings and love,
Thanks for the reminder to find the miracles amid the stinkiness and mess of life’s pickle jar inconveniences! I will be smiling all day–and looking for miracles! Yvonne
Yay! Me too!
She’s blessed to have your calm and savvy and ‘show must go on’ attitude, hence not missing school, etc. Thanks for the insight. ‘Such a good reminder of focusing on what matters!
Thank you for sharing. ‘Truly, -Susan
Thank you Susan! Now, whenever I eat pickles I’ll be reminded to look for the blessings.:)