Getting Off the Poop Train

My 3 year old pooped in the tub, AGAIN.

I reacted like I normally do–I screamed bloody murder. What was different this time was that I was conscious of what I was doing.

It was as if I was standing outside of myself watching like a silent bystander. “What an idiot,” I mused as I watched me spiral into more and more anger as the poo contaminated water splashed all over the bathroom floor.

I became painfully aware that the screaming me was running a program without any thought or compassion. The screaming me was angry not because of the situation, but because it seemed like being angry was the proper response. The observer me noted that one of the reasons I was screaming had nothing to do with my son or the poo. I was screaming so that my wife who was in the kitchen could hear. I was screaming because I felt unappreciated for ALWAYS having to clean up the poo.

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Say Cheese for Forgiveness

I’m about ready to strangle my 5 year old son. EVERY morning he throws the same tantrum: “I don’t want to get dressed. I’m too tired to brush my teeth. I don’t want to go to school…” I’ve been practicing Flash Forgiveness, but as soon as I forgive, he throws something else in my face, usually the same crap he threw the day before.

Mark Turner / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

I feel like I’m wasting all my flashes of forgiveness on him. Kind of like those old flash cubes that we used to place on Kodak cameras. So I’ve come up with a new form of Flash Forgiveness.

A Split Second to Peace

It happens in an instant–love and acceptance snap to anger and unrest. I’ve seen/felt it a hundred times each day on battlefields, street corners, at dinner tables, but, most importantly, in my own mind. This is where peace starts and ends, and we have the power to choose.