The Eggs Dropped
This morning I sent an email to those who are praying for our marriage. I thanked them for the prayer at church yesterday and let them know Kelly was okay. From the computer room I asked Victoria, she’s 4 ½, to get an egg out of the refrigerator. I heard a crash and screaming. I ran to the kitchen…all 18 eggs were on the floor. They splattered the inside of the refrigerator and oozed down under the bottom drawer. The egg whites and yolk were in her hair, on her clothes, feet, and all but one egg broke. She was screaming, crying, scared. Eyes wide, mouth open, tears running down her cheeks. She believed she was in trouble and was already remorseful for what she’d done.
I looked at her, back to the eggs. To her. The eggs. To her. The eggs... How was I going to clean up 17 cracked eggs and calm a screaming child? When all I wanted to do was scream and cry myself. Why hadn’t she used the stool? She always uses the stool. She’s not tall enough to reach the eggs.
I made the choice…
I chose Victoria.
I got down to her eye level. She shrunk away from me. I steadied my voice from choking tears. Then I softened my eyes and in a soothing and pleading voice said, “Victoria stop screaming. Mommy knows it was an accident. We’ll clean your hair, your clothes. Look at my eyes. You’re not in trouble.”
I reached out my arms for her, “Can I give you a hug?” She jumped into my arms and held me tight. After a few minutes I put her down and said out loud to no one, “I don’t even know how to clean this mess up.”
“I’ll help you mama,” Victoria skipped over and started picking up egg shells.
And, there was Kathleen, “Victoria dropped the eggs. Look at the mess she made.” I hushed her and turned away to answer the phone.
When I turned back around, I saw Victoria had placed sheets of towel paper over the mess on the floor. “What a good idea,” I exclaimed in amazement. The paper absorbed the egg whites and yolk. I scooped up the first batch of egg gunk. I lay more towels down and continued until the mess was clean.
I couldn’t clean the bottom drawer of the refrigerator out unless I pulled out the whole refrigerator. So, I shimmied the frig out of its spot. Pulled out the drawer, and what crud was under there! I scraped and wiped and sprayed and cleaned under the bottom drawer until it was clean.
Then I looked behind the frig. WAY YUK! I saw the broken glass from eons ago-I thought I cleaned all that up. There were a few bee-bees Kathleen had collected months earlier outside our church. To my chagrin she dropped them in the kitchen and they rolled all over the place-I thought I picked them up. There was a hair clip we were missing. A bottle cap from a Martinelli’s we had at last years Thanksgiving. Fur balls from the dog shedding last summer. Dust. Mouse droppings-oh that is a story. A picture of Victoria tenderly placing her head on daddy’s shoulder-what a lovely afternoon, the four of us, hot summer day, tossing water balloons in the back yard.
I knew there would be something behind the refrigerator. But I didn’t expect the yucky and disgusting to be mixed with my life stories under there.
This story is my life last week. Kelly, accidentally/stupidly dropped 18 “eggs” on the floor and 17 broke. I made a choice not to be angry. We both got on the floor to clean up the obvious mess, but we had to look under the drawer and behind the refrigerator to clean up the entire “egg” mess. Mixed with the gook, the gunk, and the grime were funny and loving stories of our life together.
The right and proper thing to do is clean up the lingering mess from time gone by, remember the good times, throw out the bad through forgiveness, and go on with life making memories together.
After all, not all the eggs in the basket broke.
Cracked Foundations
Later that morning my mom called with Isaiah 54 about building foundations. With all the earthquakes, tsunami’s, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, bombings and car burnings in France going on in our physical world, the earth’s reality does not feel like a firm foundation. When Kelly told me about what happened, I was actually grateful for what God had taken me through these past 2 ½ years. I said to myself, “God, you alone are faithful. You alone are my firm foundation.” I get it.
