Not my proudest mommy-moment

When my boys were young we started doing puzzles together, big puzzles, like the 500-1000 piece puzzles.  We enjoyed the challenge of finding the right pieces and celebrated together when the “one” we’d been looking for was finally found.

One evening we were finishing up a flag puzzle we’d been working on for a while.  I had to leave for a meeting and knew my family would finish it while I was gone.  I was sad to miss the culmination of our project… so I decided to take a piece with me so they couldn’t complete it without me.

During my meeting I was preoccupied with feelings of guilt and selfishness.  Those feelings were only compounded when I returned home to find my family eagerly waiting for me to return so we could finish the puzzle together.  As they handed me a puzzle piece they said, “Mom, we lost a piece, but we saved the last piece we had for you to put in.”  Sheepishly, I retrieved the missing piece from my back pocket, told them what I’d done, and let them have the honor of placing the last two pieces of our puzzle.

Definitely not my proudest mommy-moment, but I learned that sometimes my competitiveness distracts me from doing the right thing.  Since that evening I have been more aware of my competitive streak ~ which makes it easier for me, in the moment, to figure out if "this is the time to win at all costs" or not.

What lessons have you learned from your own “not my proudest mommy-moment”?  I’d love to hear about them.

What if…

What if everything was exactly how it should be?

I heard this question today and it got me to wondering.  What if this is how it was supposed to be?  What if I believed that this isn’t all a big mistake? 

If I believed everything was exactly as it should be I would be looking for what *I* am supposed to learn from this experience (instead of trying to find ways to convince the other person of what he should be doing).

If I knew with certainty that this was just how it was supposed to be I would let go of some control and allow a little bit more flexibility in my plans and not be quite so adamant that my way is always the best way.

If I trusted this wasn’t really all a big mistake I would see the blessings of this experience, how I will be stronger because of it (rather than worn down by it), that it’s an opportunity to learn lessons I didn’t even know I needed to learn.

Wow ~ a question can really open up a whole new way of thinking about a problem.  What if your son not serving a mission was always the plan (His, not ours!)?  How would you show up differently?