By Molly Simpson
I live out in the country in North Georgia. I have a homestead with pigs, goats, sheep, dogs, chickens and teenagers. One of our favorite places to visit is the World’s largest indoor flea market. (It’s free entertainment and some great deals too!) Two weeks ago, we bought some delicious oranges. We put them in our fruit bowl on the counter.
Before I go on, I must prepare those of you with large young families. It is quite difficult to downsize your grocery intake, even when consumption decreases. I went from 5 children to 2 and I am having trouble adjusting.
So, the delicious oranges were enjoyed by the four of us who were left, but you can only eat so many before the rest start to not be so fresh and delicious. Though the aging oranges were no longer appetizing to us, fruit flies found them quite appealing. I came home after a long day out to find a swarm levitate from my sink. 😝
They lingered on every possible surface, clean dishes, dirty dishes, table, counters, stove, my glass of water. 🤢Another swarm hung out in my garbage can.
Today though, I was reflecting on the menacing flies and started to see from a different perspective.
Warning, here comes another tangent that will get relevant quickly. 🤪 I have never been a stellar housekeeper. Dishes are my least favorite chore of all. I once saw a sign that said “Excuse the mess, children under construction” and that was all the validation I needed to continue neglecting some household chores. 😏
My new perspective came while getting a fresh glass of water. My kitchen was CLEAN! And it has been for the past several days! In my effort to starve the fruit flies, the dishes and sinks are being cleaned promptly, the table is clean, the trash is quickly removed.
It constantly amazes me how God can use even tiny fruit flies to help us accomplish what seemed to me impossible.
And just because I know some of you are like me, and will want to know the ending, the fruit fly population has significantly decreased. The war is not over, but I will conquer!”
Do you ever feel wonder why life is full of so many challenges and trials? It seems that just when you start to see the sun through the clouds, you can hear thunder rolling in from the south. Humor me for a moment while I go back in time. I promise I have a point.
As a young girl, all I ever wanted in life was to be a mother. When people would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I had a quick and ready answer. Even when I was a teenager, my answer stayed the same. I’m not sure if I was a strange breed or if it is more common than I realized, but I would actually write book reports and papers on parenting.
When I finally met my Prince Charming and he wanted me as his Princess, we were both eager to marry and start our family. My passion for motherhood only grew. One of the many resources I found to learn about parenting techniques spoke of the importance of positive parenting. I had always thought of myself as a fairly positive person. I smiled frequently and complimented others consistently. I thought positive parenting would be a breeze. We were challenged for one day to count how many times we had a negative thought. If we thought of the words “no, don’t can’t, not” or any other negative word, we were asked to make a tally mark on a designated paper. After less than an hour, I was certain I had been deceived concerning my self-perception. It appeared I couldn’t make tally marks fast enough!
This was a huge turning point for me as far as habits of thought. Luckily, my children were only mildly exposed to the negative side of mom as I started this transformation in their toddler years. It was quite difficult to create new ways of saying things. Instead of saying “Don’t jump on the couch!”, after some mental anguish, I would spout out, “Get off the couch and go jump outside!” I could almost feel new wrinkles forming in my brain. The amazing thing is that speaking in the positive manner was so much more effective at getting the desired response from my children!
About this same time, one of my favorite TV channels launched a slogan to “See the Good!”. How did they know I needed that? That became my mantra and if you listen closely you can sometimes hear me still whispering it to myself. The Law of Polarity shows us that everything has a flipside and we if we just adjust our perspectacles, we can see the great in any circumstance.
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For more about the seven laws that govern prosperity, click here to read Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Astonishing Help With Your Money Matters FREE.
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