The Queen of Absolutely Everything

On Today's Menu:
Forbidden Fruit Pie, a la mode

Wouldn't it be fun to fix everybody and their problems? I for one get so sick of people's bad habits and behavior patterns. I'm tired of hearing them bellyache about their kids, weight, finances, emotional life, relationships, spouse, dirty house, or --you fill in the blank. They're like hamsters on a wheel, galloping furiously for all they're worth, and wondering why they're not halfway to L.A. or wherever they'd like to be.

"Duh! Get off the stupid wheel!" I'd love to scream. "Change what you're doing if you don't like the direction you're going!"

"But, you see, I just don't know what to do." They shake their head.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" By that point I'm ready to blow a gasket. Take a person who's tired of her children mouthing off. She's already been told not to argue with them. She's the mom, that's that. To see her spatting back and forth with her elementary age child makes me shake my head.

If I were to continue, I'd no longer be changing names to protect the "innocent." Who knows who might cruise by this blog and find themselves a perfect fit with the scenarios I'm describing?

So I point my fingers right back at myself. I'm tired of being overweight, for example. But am I tired enough to get off the hamster wheel and make the changes I need to make? Okay, maybe a treadmill in this instance is a good idea. I can boo-hoo to my friends about these extra pounds and the terrible time shopping and finding clothes that fit right--believe me, you can't camouflage everything. Yet my sob stories are for nothing if I won't make the changes I must make. I think of this now, as my aunt is in the hospital, gravely ill with congestive heart failure, with a poor prognosis. All because of choices.

Why do we do these things to ourselves? Here we go again, just like Eve who thought that forbidden fruit would make her happy. Did it taste just as sweet once she realized what she'd done? She never had another chance to go back to that tree after she got kicked out of Eden with her husband. I wonder if in her exile, she longed for the cool, green garden where all was provided for her and the world was at her feet. I wonder if she wished she could go back in time and run from the tree and what it represented. She had been the Queen of Absolutely Everything, and lost it all.

Choices, choices. Like a hamster on a wheel. We've never seen Eden, and yet forbidden fruit might as well be ripe for the picking in our backyards. We stay comfortable in our habits and behaviors, no matter how harmful. But we always have a choice.

I guess that's where God is far more merciful than I could ever be. If I were in charge, I don't think I'd be as kind and longsuffering. I'm working on those qualities, though. I suppose it's because of my own frustration at my shortcomings.

God is the King of Do-Overs. You want another chance, a do-over? He's the one to give it to you. Once we toss ourselves on the mercies of His court, we've got the biggest break imaginable.

So, get off the hamster wheel. Ending my rant for today!