Brain Freeze

This post involves ice cream so some truths need to be established up front. The best flavor is either chocolate chip cookie dough or butter pecan. The worst flavor is anything that involves coffee or mint. Mint and chocolate do not go together. If you think they do, eat a chocolate chip while you brush your teeth. It's the same thing.

Ok now that we have those deeply spiritual truths out of the way....

I was thinking last night about how we're so often supposed to compartmentalize our lives. We're expected to learn from all of our mistakes the first time and never repeat them no matter what. We're supposed to have only positive feelings about things.

Recently I shared with someone about how hard things have been with my kiddos lately. I dumped out a lot of what's been going on lately and the person asked if I "even enjoy them". I was so very hurt by the question because this person knows I adore my kids more than just about anything in life... but that doesn't mean that days (months.... seasons...) aren't hard.

So naturally I thought about ice cream.

Just about every time I eat ice cream (especially if it's in milkshake form), I end up with brain freeze. I'm not five. I know I shouldn't eat it too fast but I do. By golly I get going and end up with brain freeze. Does that mean I cut out ice cream because I made the same stupid mistake yet again? Um no. Does that mean I think ice cream is terrible because that one aspect is bad? Aaaalso no.

Just because you think you're underpaid and overworked and tired of being taken for granted at work doesn't mean you don't absolutely love your job. Just because you wish he'd plan a vacation for your fam for once (or even just be excited to go on the one you planned) and wish he'd get you a birthday present with all sorts of thoughtfulness and wish he'd sweep you off your feet and think he's driving you absolutely crazy doesn't mean you aren't completely in love with your husband. Just because you cried in your closet and your car and in the bathroom every day for the last two weeks doesn't mean you don't love the life you've built.

Days are hard. Kids are hard. Marriage is hard. Work is hard. Seasons of life are hard. LIFE is hard. But just because it's hard doesn't mean it isn't beautiful and wonderful. And even better, it doesn't mean that we are in it alone. David gives us all sorts of vents and weeping in Psalms but he also shares his worship and his joys. He reminds us in Psalm 56:8 that God keeps track of all our sorrows and collects all our tears in a bottle. He has written down of them. I, the one who cried all the tears, couldn't tell you even a good estimate of how many times I cried much less how many tears there were. He cares THAT much. Mercifully, He also doesn't ever tell us to only live high on life with rose colored glasses on drinking from our half full cups. Jesus grieved when Lazarus died (even thought He knew He'd raise him again in like ten minutes) and Matthew tells us that Jesus was anguished and distressed when He was in the garden praying. Jesus even said "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death" and then prayed humbly asking God to change His fate. If even Jesus got worried and grieved and felt His soul was crushed knowing He was going to fully defeat death in three days.

He knew the outcome and still chose to endure it for you and for me, not all that dissimilar to how we choose our marriages and our kids even though we know that there will be days (or weeks or months). And did the disciples judge Him and tell him to look on the bright side or to get over it? Nope. In fact they were so helpful as to just plain fall asleep. (Side note- this is NOT what a good friend does in that moment just in case you're the friend watching someone go through the mess.) We know the outcomes and we can endure because we have a God who knows every single one of our sorrows and our worries and our cares.

We can get past the brain freeze of life because the sweet joy of God's love is even better than chocolate chip cookie dough or butter pecan. God's love is perfect and enduring. (and fat free)

-hold your cares in His hand (name them by name and hand them over)

-tell God all the good, bad, and ugly and then follow that up with praise for all the beautiful, wonderful, and blessed that you have in your life

-every time you feel overwhelmed with the brain freeze in your life, don’t withdraw and miss out on the sweetness but rather look even harder for those things God has provided to balance the painful