Things Are Not Always As They Appear

     As I walked in the door of my home on a Sunday after church, I decided that since we had brought guests home with us that I would make a pie as a dessert for us to share. Stepping into the kitchen I was amazed to find small, rounded droppings on my floor. Immediately I bent down to see what it could be. I was totally baffled because they were scattered about everywhere in the kitchen from one side to the other. I called my husband into the kitchen to look at them. We were trying to be as quiet as possible because I surely did not want my guests to think I had a “critter” in my house! Neither of us could determine the source of the droppings. I hurriedly wiped them up with a paper towel and placed them in a baggie so that I could look them up online and try to determine what animal could possibly have left them in my kitchen. I went online and researched every possible option with no luck. I called my sister, and she did the same. I decided to call my parents and just see what they thought it might be. My mother asked my father about pellet-type droppings only for him to tell her that deer have pellet type droppings. I quickly responded that I think I would know if I had a deer in my home! My niece called during the frenzy, and I asked her if she might be able to identify these droppings. Her husband quickly responded, “Tell Aunt Suzi if it tastes like chocolate…”! That was enough for me. I decided the pie would have to wait, and I was calling an exterminator first thing on Monday morning! My husband, who is of much calmer nature than me, suggested that we wait to see if anymore showed up and deal with it then. So that was the decision.

     Coming home from work on Monday I was most anxious to look at my clean kitchen floor. To my horror, there were pellets EVERYWHERE. Not only in the kitchen, but down the hall, into my bedroom, into my walk-in closet…everywhere! I was near tears. I called my husband, and we decided the exterminator was necessary. I was running late for our Daughters of Zion prayer at church, so I determined to wait until I got home to make the call. I decided to take the little baggie with me to DOZ in case someone there might know what had invaded my home. I was trying to think what it could possibly be…not a mouse, hopefully! “What about a ground squirrel?” someone suggested. Or worse yet, someone said, “It might be a snake or some spiders possibly.” That really did not help calm my nerves. My mind was racing, and I was thinking of how I was going to get my home to feel clean again after such a mess.

     After prayer, I went home feeling overwhelmed and worrying about even crawling into bed for fear of the “critter” being there too! I stopped at the door to take off my shoes and reached for my slippers. As I touched my slippers, my fingers went across the bottom of the slipper and I froze. On the bottom of the slippers I felt little round, pellet type grippers. I picked up the slipper and looked more closely. I noticed that more than half of the “pellets” were missing! I tried to pull one off and it fell into my hand quite easily. I had to sit down and laugh! About that time, my sister called to tell me she had found the culprit on the internet, and I had to quickly tell her that, ‘No, I had found the culprit!” The invaders were my house slippers! No wonder they were all over the kitchen, in my bedroom, bathroom, and closet. That is where I had been!

     While it brought a laugh from all of us, I began to think about how many times I have worried about things and imagined things to be much worse than they actually turned out to be. I thought of the nights that I had lost sleep over situations, and it didn’t change the outcome at all. That is why the Lord instructs in the scriptures not to worry about the morrow, or what we should eat, etc. We, as humans, and in particular ladies, often seem to have a 7 th sense, which is WORRY! We worry about our children, our husbands, the finances, what we are going to prepare for dinner, what others think of us, our weight, and the list goes on and on! I found a saying that summed it up: I’ve had a lot of troubles in my life, but most of them never happened. How true that is! But I sure did worry about them!!

     I am convinced that worry is a tool that satan uses on us to keep us sidetracked and pre-occupied with things that really are not that important. While our husbands and our families are of utmost importance, many of the things that we concern ourselves with are things that ultimately we have no control over. If we could hand them to God and trust Him to take care of them, how much better off we would be.

     The “pellets” have been a great lesson for me! Instead of panicking immediately in a situation, how about giving it to God first and asking Him for guidance and direction? Instead of thinking automatically the absolute worst scenario, how about trying to think about more positive options? Instead of running to everyone else for answers, how about praying over the situations? As children of God, we have many wonderful options presented to us. God’s Word is a wonderful tool when we do not have the answers within ourselves. He often speaks to us through His Word, and our lives are given divine direction. Prayer is another wonderful gift we have. It is an awesome privilege to take our needs to God. We also have the family of God that will share our needs and pray for us as well. We do not have to make it through our situations alone!