The Pepsi Machine Took Me to School

The Revelation that we can learn through life experience while looking for God in everything amazes me. I've had many moments in my mommy days that have reminded me of Who my Creator is and what His character is like.

The key though, is that I have to be searching for those teaching moments from Him. It's just the same when I am parenting our littles day in and day out. I can easily get caught up in repeating my "mommy phrases" and forget to add in His lessons throughout the process.

The Pepsi Machine Lesson that I have learned came to me a couple years ago. I journaled about it and it has continuously stuck.

When we lived in our apartment, the Leasing Office had a Pepsi vending machine right outside the back door, so we could drive down and grab a cold drink for $1.50 and return home in a matter of 2 minutes.

On this particular day, my hubby sent me down with all my coins to collect a soda for him, and I stomped my feet for several minutes before deciding to go was joyfully willing to oblige.

I drove down to the office, put in the first few coins, and then the machine ate a nickel of mine.

Oh, those machines.

I had only taken EXACTLY what I needed to get his soda pop, but went back to the console of the car to see if I had more somewhere.

No dice.

So, I did what any LOGICAL mother would do.

I went back to the machine, punched pushed the "return my coins" button a handful of times, then reinserted all of the coins I had... sans the nickel that it had stole from me.

The machine counted $1.45. It knew I was shorting it a nickel, but I pushed through.

I hit the key for the soda he wanted and prayed for it to supernaturally spit out the goods.

Once again, NO DICE. I was delightfully frustrated that this ignorant vending machine would not give me what I wanted from it with a MEASLY .05 in the balance. I trudged back home to the hubby to recollect another nickel for the greedy machine, but on the way, I learned this Holy Spirit-inspired lesson.

My walk with Christ is JUST like that vending machine and I.

I can't short-change God, expecting that He's going to just lavish all sorts of crazy blessings upon me if I don't fully commit my life to Him; if I refuse to let Him control the outcome and refuse to trust Him with every once of my existence.

I have to put in what I expect to get out. Easier said that done for this momma; how about you?

Not to compare our walks with Christ to that of a slot machine...where we put in our coin, pull a magical lever, and receive the jackpot, by any means.

BUT, we DO have to learn to surrender self, turn our Spiritual eyes on, tune our ears to His radio station, and live out the Truth of Scripture. And to know what all of those things mean and how powerful our lives can be when doing those things, we have to spend time in His Word and presence. Both of those life choices and time commitments will NEVER let us down.

As a matter of fact, I have learned that His Word and presence teach us all about who the Creator is and exactly what kind of character He has, and let me tell you, He is passionate and majestic. However, don't just let me tell you that.

Press into Him and see what He has to lavish you with each day. Our God is a giver.

I'm so glad I let the Pepsi Machine take me to school. Because during this hospitalized bed rest stay.... where we are praying for miracles, I realize that my God is relentless. If I fully surrender and trust His power, He will never fail me.

He never has.

That's Not a Diaper, It's Toilet Paper

As for the title of this post, please be patient, it'll all be clear soon enough.

Many days, I feel rushed. I feel like so many things are happening in our home that my brain just needs a time out. I'm frequently standing, rarely sitting(reserved for nap time when all 4 littles rest together).

Typically, I am doing 2 things at any moment, and have to always be prepared to switch to 2 ENTIRELY different tasks in the blink of a tiny eyelash.

I'm sure no one else on the planet feels the same way. :.)

Right?

Honestly, we moms have one word that we typically use to sum up the strand of days that can seem to flow together.

Busy.

In one way, or another, we are all busy.

Our days become filled, things(or children) come up missing, we do the best we can, and assume that busy is just that daunting way of life that God has for us right now.

Although I rarely leave home, because I have become a PROUD homebody, I can frequently be caught thinking, Ay Carumba Batman, this is insane! Honestly, I am SO entirely occupied during my days that I find myself doing totally random things that make ZERO sense.

Here's your list of examples:

-Backing into my hubby's PARKED car as I removed our van from the garage.
-Leaving our van door wide open at the park or in the garage after unloading the one child I was responsible for.
-Leaving the bathroom with a roll of toilet paper only to find myself thinking, That is not a diaper, it's a roll of toilet paper. Not as effective at holding in baby waste.
-Finding the piece of bread I was eating for breakfast that I sat down on my way to change the laundry a good 20 minutes before.
-Spotting the dryer door, wide open, reminding me that I had neglected the load in the washer that I was supposed to switch over, but got distracted from.

You see, we ALL get soo busy in our "dailies" that sometimes, it just feels chaotic.

I once posted on my Facebook that my days are not defined by the absence of chaos, but they are defined by the power of His presence.

Chaos, in my home, is inevitable. Four children under 5 with a pregnant mama, we ride the Crazay Trainnn, every 10 minutes.

It makes life interesting, BUT I recently had one of those, "Jesus, if you know and have experienced everything we ever will encounter, why do I feel like you could NEVER comprehend the busy-ness of my days?" moments.

Ever been there?

What He reminded me of in His Love Letter to us is Jesus' story if ministry. You can find it in all 4 Gospels. You often find Jesus busy. He's ALWAYS surrounded by people who need something from Him, they all require His attention, and He rarely finds a recluse. Sure, He gets away briefly to nap or whisper a few words to the One who sent Him, but often, we read of Him giving of Himself.

Jesus was busy. I bet His flesh grew tired. I bet He felt ALWAYS NEEDED by those seeking healing, a word of encouragement, a dinner at the tax collector's place, a prostitute desperately desiring to be cleansed, and the list goes on and on.

So, Jesus does know. Not only does He see our battle with busy, He has felt it. He later died to free us from the burden of feeling too busy to function. He died so that, in the busy days, we can still live abundantly.

Since that reminder, I have aimed to remember that He understands my busy, always moving from one thing to the next, state of life because that is how He lived His. He was, and still is, always needed.

So am I. And now, I'm elated by that.

How about you?

Busy?
Pulled in a million directions?
Frazzled because all the activity?

Remember Him. He lived it too.