Saturday, August 22, 2009

The ants go marching. . .

If you know me, you also know that I am one of those obnoxiously perfectionist type persons. I tend to get too caught up in having things, "just so."
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Brad and I are having some friends over for a cookout tonight, so I've spent the last couple of days cleaning the house, finishing up the bathroom project, planning the menu, and generally trying to ensure that everything will be nice for our friends.
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This morning, when I walked into the kitchen to make breakfast, I was greeted by a sight right out of a horror movie. Ants. Thousands of tiny, swarming, sugar ants. They were blazing a trail from the front door to the kitchen trash can, where they had discovered an empty sugar bag - apparently not as empty as I thought. I screamed, and fussed, and started attacking with cleaning spray and entire roll of paper towels. The whole time I'm thinking, "Our friends are coming over! They're going to think we never clean!"
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Sometimes, I can't believe how much I miss the point. I'm so grateful that God allows things like like this to happen, so my perspective can be zapped back into place. After I finished dealing with the ants, I realized how badly I handled the situation. Brad and I have been blessed with friends, even if we don't get to see them as often as we'd like, and our friends love us. Not a perfect house. Not a perfect meal. Our friends love us. And they aren't going to love us any less if they happen to spot a few wayward ants around a trash can. I'm the only one who cares (or even notices) if things are perfect or not.
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And so today, I'm thankful for the ants, and the overcast sky, and our imperfect house, because God uses these little inconveniences to remind me of how many great big blessing I have!

<3 ( your far from perfect blogging friend)
Hattie

3 comments:

Julia said...

Hey Hattie! I start back Monday too, they just made us go in for 6 days of prep. Ugh. Anyhow, those cheap little ant killer things that you sit on the floor (I think they're by raid? The little black floor things you just sit in a corner...) They work wonders. We had a massive ant problem, and those floor thingies and some caulking of the hole they enter through took care of it all. Good luck!

Tracy said...

Well said, friend. And i think that ants invade everyone's home at one time or another so your visitors should understand and empathize. :) Hope you had a blast at your cookout! Wish we could have been there.

Christen said...

I totally hear you! I can get too caught up in the day to day annoyances sometimes, and I have to take a step back and think, "Is this worth getting worked up about?"