What we can't control

I know it's been a long time.  I've been so busy that I haven't had time to post.  OK, I'm lying.  Yes, we have been busy swamped with life, but the reason I haven't posted is because, quite honestly, I wasn't motivated and didn't care.  There we go, that's it.  (I would insert a smiley face but a smirk like the ones on Carter's Lego men's yellow heads would be more appropriate, and I don't know how to do that.)

I don't talk very much about Clint on here it seems.  Carter seems to be the one whose smiles and stories are splashed through each month's updates.  He's adorable, smart, charming, hilarious, bold...he's very interesting for an almost three year old.

Now my amazing husband has all those qualities and more, but I guess when you're an adult you can't make the excuse of being oblivious to life's basic rules.  Some of these that Carter breaks on a regular basis are no attacking other patrons' shopping carts and no slamming doors in friends' faces.  Now if Clint did things like this I would have him all over this blog.

So here's a little Clint today, but not what you would expect.

There's a mole on Clint's back that has grown dramatically and changes color everyday.  I have "diagnosed" it as at least basal cell carcinoma on WebMD.  This growth is like the gremlin from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons that just won't go away.  I hate it.  We both hoped it would shrink and turn reddish pink like the rest of him, but its daily changes confirm it is not normal.  I know it will have to be cut out, and then I believe that will be all we'll have to deal with it aside from Clint having to wear gallons of sunscreen and special UV blocking shirts especially at the pool.  I actually banned him from the pool for the rest of the summer until we find out more at his doctor's appointment on 8/16. 

I know he will be fine.  It's just that I'm so used to fixing everything around here.  With me on watch, no bill will be late, no appointment missed, no new patient form left incomplete, no coupon failed to be used with a sale, no textbook not ordered, no patch of dry skin left parched, no sleep until my family is taken care of.  No matter what is scheduled on my calendar, how many pastel sticky notes I have flying around, and the kinds of vitamins I have my family take, I will never be able to be fully on top of everything or be able to remedy every situation.  I have odd relief knowing that everything I can't fix is 100% God's territory.  He obviously wants me to take care of my family, but there are so many things beyond my control.

The following verses are wonderfully short and to the point concerning what we can't control:

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
Psalm 55:22

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7

Can't you see the pretty bow that makes everything come together and all better?  No?  OK, I also need something more.  Take what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

You would think that this definitely is talking about us giving God our burdens and surrendering what we can't handle in our day to day lives to Him.  If you read it in its context, it shows that Jesus came to bring an alternative to The Law.  He brought faith that totally relies on Him instead of countless rules.  We find rest, eternally and so too here, because His call or what society would call oppression (yoke/burden) is "easy and...light."  Jesus did all the work.  We just try our best to follow.  It seems like God's in the business of tackling the "hard stuff" for us.  We can cast what we can't help (and also what we can) because He already had it all cast upon Him.  Pretty easy and light on our end.

Thank You, God, for Your Son's sacrifice and not just letting me trudge through this chaotic world alone.  A relationship like the one between You and me would never survive in a worldly sense.  It seems like I'm in an endless cycle of taking and unloading from You...but I know You wouldn't have it any other way.