I Hope You Get Everything You Deserve

Join me for a different sort of Christmas tale...

(This actually took place in December, 2012. I am reposting it this year because it is a story that - for the goods and the ills - takes place all over the country each year in some way, about this time. And it's a sweet story and one that blesses me again and again to read.)

About two weeks before Christmas in Washington state (where it is cold and gets darker earlier), a grandma and a great-uncle decided to give a little girl a birthday party. It was a bit late, but that's okay, in a big family "delayed gratification" is an important concept to learn early! They scrimped and saved to let her have her party at one of those party gym places, and invited the whole class. Little Girl was turning eight, and has six siblings and four cousins who live nearby, so the first 10 slots were taken by them; anyone over 15 guests were going to cost extra, but this was a once-in-a-long time party, and the gym was 25 minutes away, so it was anyone's guess at how many were going to come!

Flying in the Right Direction

I saw a flock of birds riding the currents yesterday. Birds have always fascinated me - we've all heard of the way geese work with their V-formations, the fresher goose taking the lead and falling back when tired, two geese staying with an injured goose, etc. These were some other, smaller variety of bird. I'm not sure what type because they were too far away from me. Their formation was more like a ball - a ball of birds. What was interesting to me is that they stayed in their "ball" formation even when the wind blew them about this way and that, never running into one another, seemingly never losing their place in the rest of the group.

How often do we move this way in society? Accepting what is supposedly our position in life, not jostling for a better position within our own social circles, and enjoying the ride? My growing "flock" of birds often jostle for a better position - more like dogs in a pack, I suppose, than birds working together. If the birds don't work together, they will end up crashing into one another and bring the whole flock down out of the sky.

When my children are given a job and they act more like a flock than a pack, they manage to finish the job fairly quickly. I love those moments and cherish them. The last time we raked the leaves and bagged them up, we were a flock. I didn't have to yell - everyone grabbed a tool (rake, shovel, bag, etc.) to get the job done, and we floated on the breeze.

Getting their beds made this morning was a whole 'nother story. I found myself praying for serenity and asking God for help to not yell and scream to get the pack in line. They snarled and bit (at one another, not me!) vying for who was going to be top dog, beneath the Alpha. Needless to say, more work was needed in fixing the situation - if they're working, eventually harmony comes - or bedtime. Either way is a win-win situation for me and for the family.

As we get closer to our 25- 30 person Thanksgiving dinner and as families all over these great united States work to make feasts, may we all strive to be more like the flock of birds than the pack of dogs (and God give me patience when the Dogs come out!)

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