I could have sworn the devil was at Wal-Mart today...

Waking up at 6:40 am this morning to go run 3-4 miles in the cold did not appeal to me as much as my nice warm bed. So, I opted to hit the snooze 2 times and crawl out of bed at 7:30 instead. I rinsed off in the shower and threw on my workout clothes that would only be worn for show because I would not be fitting in a workout myself this morning.

I toss another load of clothes from the mountain taking over our laundry room floor. Grab my Bible and try to find some words for motivation for my day. I stumble across James 3:13-14,

"If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with humility that comes with wisdom. But, if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in you heart, don't cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic."

Not exactly the type of motivation I was looking for, but I realized that I REALLY needed to read those words today. I need to be reminded to prove myself by living out what I say. I need to let go of my selfish ambitions and not let jealousy creep into my heart and rob me of joy. I need to not worry so much about what others think, but still try to be an example by being humble and honorable. These words repeat in my mind when I start to go down the wrong path of thinking.

Every day is a battle in some way or another and we have to go to battle or Satan will win. So, I cherish those words that were interrupted by my sweet children. I will take what refreshment I can get. I put away my Bible and journal and move on to breakfast, putting away clean dishes, finding shoes and coats so we can head out the door. I drop Corban off at school and he says a prayer for me to be "tough and brave" before I carry him to the cross walk. I love that boy so much. He makes me better every day!

The younger two and I head to run an errand and then to the gym so I can train my wonderful group of ladies and another wonderful client. I head back to the 25 minute wait in my car to pick Corban up from school. We head to go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.

It is now 11:45am and we are all getting hungry. I normally would grab us all a snack and then eat lunch when we get home, but today I wanted to make it easier by stopping at the Subway inside of Wal-Mart.

Boy, was I wrong about that being easier! I get my kid's settled down at a table and meanwhile two other kid's moseyed on up and sat down with my kid's. Corban thought it was great and immediately made a new friend. Landice, on the other hand, decided to hiss and scowl at this precious little girl telling her that she had to find her own seat. So, I am stuck trying to tell my kid's that it is okay and try to order at the same time Hayden is rocketing his race car off the table.

I get our food and I am immediately bombarded with "gimme this" and "gimme that." I have to remind my children that they need to be patient when I am barely hanging on to MY last thread of patience.

Once I finally get food dispersed and drinks opened, Corban decides to climb under the table almost knocking off Landice's milk. In my attempt to stop that from happening my sandwich tries to do a back handspring and ends up lying pathetically on the floor in all it's former healthy glory.

I shrug it off and throw it away. Corban and I now are sharing HIS sandwich.

We get settled again and Hayden drips ranch dressing all down his front side. I stand in line for 5 minutes waiting on a 2 napkins(stingy these days) and Landice dumps half of her chocolate milk all over the table. I stand in line again and get 5 napkins this time. I throw all of the stuff away and say to the kid's, "Let's please finish our food so we can leave before we make another mess!"

Wrong thing to say! As I am saying this I pick up Hayden's milk and it spills down the crotch of my pants and then Landice spills the rest of her milk on the floor. All I could do was laugh. Hayden joined me. Landice and Corban were confused and said, "Mom, that is not funny."

I finish laughing and walk up to the counter again asking once again for napkins saying, "I am afraid this was not our day to eat at Subway...may I have some more napkins, please?" He then hands me 20 napkins. Thank the Lord, it barely cleaned up the mess.

We survived Subway. Now we head in to brave Wal-Mart. My kid's decide to beg and cry for all kinds of junk that I continue to say no to. They are pushing and pulling on each other. I am frowning. Hayden is trying to climb out of the basket while Corban tries to push the basket at the same time. I finally tell them that their once a month purchase of fruit snacks is about to be revoked. They calm down and obey. We manage to get out of the store with minimal scowls from passerby's. I think to myself, "Man, there sure are a lot of grumps hanging around this place" at the same time my frown lines are deepening. Oh drat! I am pretty sure the Devil was at Wal-Mart today.

Thankfully there is an open check out lane with a somewhat friendly cashier talking to me about the advancement of technology in China. I smile. My muscles begin to loosen from their perpetual state of tension in my neck and shoulders. I can breathe, because I know we are about to exit that place and move on to nap time - my daily sanity saver. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...

Except for I do...I want my house to be clean for more than 5 seconds when I labor for hours. I want to be able to blog during nap time/quiet time without interruption, I want to go for a run right now, and I want for those M & M's I just ate to not show up on my booty. All reasonable, but simply and relatively unimportant to the big picture in life.

Everything I just asked for was filled with my own selfish ambition. It was just as annoying as my kid's "gimmes" at Subway, but I am hopeful and thankful as God continues to show me how HE wants me to be. As HE shows me what paths I am to take. As HE shows me how to be more humble and patient. As HE shows me through my kid's that I still a work in progress!