Wakeup Call

Yesterday at Community Bible Study the last part of the morning was dedicated to the annual Christmas Program presented by the children of all the moms involved in the study. Children starting as young as age two and extending to preteens provided a few minutes of holiday delight ranging from traditional carols to memory verses put to original melodies to the pledge of allegiance. As always there is at least one child that captures some extra attention and this year it was my grandson, Hamilton! Not only did he look adorable in his funky reindeer printed long john, but the way he would stop mid song and say " hi mom, hi mommy, hi mom. Hi nana (his great aunt) hi mom! He ended his presentation running up the aisle to where we were seated but because I was positioned just outside the pew in my wheelchair I received his grand finale with a, " hi Nan" and a big hug! Merry Christmas to me! Instantly I was taken back to the first year I attended CBS with one
child, Abby, skipping on one side of me and baby boy Joseph propped on the other hip. That's why women have hips, you know! One of the fall trends that year were scarves and I had purchased one from the Limited along with large earrings covered in jewel toned stones. Can you tell it was the eighties? And yes there were shoulder pads in everything I wore! I thought I was quite the fashion statement! So on this particular morning I wanted to dress the three of us in a way that would demand a second glance. Abby and Joseph looked like
Christmas cards in their smocked outfits accompanied by finishing touches of a perfectly created hair bow for Abby and polished white high top shoes for Joseph! Yes I dressed my son in smocked garments I had made so all three children coordinated but not matched. You never know when you might take a picture! And don't concern yourself about Joseph, half of our garage looks like Bass Pro Shop with his hunting and fishing gear. Wonder where he plans to put all of it in the one bedroom apartment he and Bethany will live in after their January wedding! With the two of them ready to go, I proceeded to get dressed and was excited to wear my new scarf! When I purchased the scarf the sales clerk showed me several ways to wear it. It seemed so easy when she did it but somehow it wasn't looking quite as sharp as it did in the store. Adding to my frustration was the the time on the clock and I didn't have mascara on yet and mascara is a must in my book! So I loaded us In the car and planned to finish my makeup while driving because Abby needed to arrive early since the Christmas program was scheduled for the first part of morning. I knew it wasn't the safest thing to do but this was kind of an emergency after all. Plus I am a female and capable of doing two things at the same time! All of a sudden I looked away from the mirror and back to road to find my car headed straight into the back of the truck in front of me! I swerved to avoid a crash and came to a stop in the grass beside the interstate. I felt like an idiot! Here I am investing time and energy in the best bible study I had ever been a part of with a children's program that embraced teaching children as opposed to just babysitting and I just missed what could have been a serious accident all because of a scarf and masacara! What a wakeup call! I was intent on achieving an appearance that took precedence over everything else. We arrived just in time for Abby to march in with the other kids. As I watched my sweet four year old sing about the birth of baby Jesus complete with hand motions and smiles, I was impressed by how much she had learned. I had learned a valuable lesson myself.