Glitter. If there’s one lesson I learned after having kids, it’s DO NOT BUY GLITTER. Of course, I figured this out AFTER I bought my girls a largish pack of glitter with multiple colors. After purchasing this now-unforgettable pack of glitter, I wrapped it in nondescript plastic shopping bags and placed securely it at the bottom of the craft box in a closet. And there it stayed, hidden and forgotten, until one day…
I was getting dinner ready in the kitchen, multiple dishes going at once, all cooking in synchrony so it would be ready when my husband arrived home from work. I heard my girls squealing in delight from the other room. I honestly didn’t think much of it; they often entertained one another while I did my mom duties around the house. I was just glad they were getting along and happy so I could get dinner done, uninterrupted. Maybe nothing would get burned today, which had become an all-too-common hazard of getting distracted while cooking and caring for three small children. I glanced around the kitchen and realized that I could sneak in a quick break to peek in on whatever was causing such raucous joy from the other room.
I ventured out from the kitchen, turned the corner to enter the main living area, and stopped. I’m not sure what stopped first, my heart or my feet, but I DO know my jaw dropped and eyes bulged at the same time. There. Was. Glitter. My children were covered. And so was the bathroom…the sink, the floor, the tub, the toilet, the mirror. Glitter was EVERYWHERE!
My mom brain went into instant let’s-devise-a-solution-to-this-latest-chaos mode and calculated estimates as to how long it would take to clean it all up. Inside I moaned and groaned; I did not have time for this. What a mess! They were too little to really help me fix the problem, so the burden would be completely on me. I mean, Glitter doesn’t just come off. It sticks to everyone and everything. And to make matters worse, it gets flipped up and floats around as one attempts to clean it up, thereby spreading glitter to more surfaces. Where it sticks and then floats, covers more surfaces so it can stick there too. It’s the cruel cycle of glitter clean up. I was sure that I would be finding glitter for years to come in crevices, cracks, and deep in carpet piles. I started praying none of it got in their eyes and mouths.
Before I could utter a word, one of my girls bounced toward me with obvious excitement leaping out of her eyes and the biggest smile I’d seen on her face in a long time. “Mom, isn’t it BEAUTIFUL?!”
That’s all it took. Instantly, I saw the situation from a completely different perspective, through the eyes of my children. In their minds, this was the most beautiful the bathroom had ever been. And to make it even better, their clothing and hair sparkled as well. They hadn’t accidentally spilled the glitter. No, they had helped me decorate the bathroom and made themselves fancier while they were at it. My heart melted as God whispered into my heart a lesson I’ll never forget. Circumstances you encounter in life are like glitter. You can see a big mess that’s difficult and challenging and find yourself miserable, resentful, and angry, or you can choose to find the positive and see beauty and have hope in My plans for your life. Either way, the attitude and perspective you choose will stick and spread, just like glitter. The choice is always yours.