the devil is in the details…

No seriously…he is. He is there to try and screw with your head and your heart on a daily basis. He wants you (and me) to be discouraged and distraught. He wants us to doubt that God is with us and guiding our steps even though we may question the road we are going down. 


This past week has been challenging both emotionally and spiritually. It’s OK. Challenge is not new to me. It’s not fun but not unexpected either. The thing that is hard for me is when I have done everything I can to face it and deal with it but the issue keeps coming up and you have to just get through it as best you can. That part is exhausting. 


I get asked quite frequently how I face these challenges each day and still smile. Ha! Let me assure you that I do not always smile my friends. Ask my husband or my son. God and I have had quite a few knock down drag out convos these past few decades. His confidence in my ability to handle so much makes me so freaking mad sometimes. I beg for Him to just keep going and bless someone else. 


Does He listen to me? No. he just piles on until I am flat on my face, prostrate before Him begging for relief. As my husband Jerry says, it’s the only way to shut me up. Gotta love his brutal assessment of his wife’s personality. That’s OK. He’s cute. I’ll keep him. For now. (wink, wink)


Here is my fool proof plan to survive the onslaught of God’s abundant confidence in my ability to deal with piles and piles of shippy pippy clippy crap and still smile. 


#1
Chocolate and caffeine 
Recently I tried to come off both sugar and caffeine. Then the sewer line collapsed. That was the end of that. I always have some York Peppermint Patties in the freezer as well as a minimum of a pound of dark roast coffee on hand. This way as I am dealing with whatever ick pile is rolling my way, I don’t kill anyone. 


#2
Daily Prayer
Now let me be clear here. I know that some of you spend time in meditation and deep prayer. That is awesomesauce. If I try to deeply meditate, I will be resting deeply in the Lords presence and wake up drooling on myself. Seriously. I would. So my prayer life looks a little like this…


Wake up – thank the Lord for this day and ask Him to be with me throughout the day. Nothing formal, just an introduction. 


Getting Miss Courtney ready for the day – pray over her as I dress her, asking God to watch over her and thanking Him for getting her through the night. Lots of hugs and kisses are given to Miss C and there is a constant litany of thanksgiving for her. I also ask Our Blessed Mother to watch over our girl. 


The Rest of the Day – repeat the above actions over and over and over again. 


At Bedtime – I thank God that we all got through the day and beg Him for sleep. 


That’s my prayer life with the add-ins of a rosary or Mass or a Holy Hour when I can and of course the constant stream of begging prayers that sound a little like this “Seriously Lord. Come on. Pass on the blessings to another household. This is just too much.” Oh yeah, me and the Omnipotent One, we go round and round and round. It’s our dance…we get down and boogie. 


#3
Laugh and Dance and Laugh some more – 
That’s right people, turn on the iPod and move it, groove it, let it loose and dance, dance, dance. Shake that money maker and get jiggy with it. Then laugh, at yourself, at life, at the absurdity of what is happening at that moment and find the humor. Trust me it’s there. 


That’s it…that’s what I do…day in and day out. 


It’s my jam. 


Ooohhh jam…that sounds yummy. Raspberry anyone??