Life isn't an Emergency

I worked all day and only crossed one thing off on my to do list.

One.  Measly. Thing. 

Classes start tomorrow and I find myself frantically holding my breath as I dive into another semester.  I know the Spring semester tends to go by faster. I know that next week is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and that I will have a day off. I know that I can only take one day at a time...

but still I go at it, fighting fires that only seem to burn brighter.

And I've not even picked up my stuff for my research project for my doctorate yet...

So as I drove home, rain dripping on the windshield, fog rising from the mountains, and my mind in overdrive, I thought... again.. about panic.

How it never does us any good.  The longer I sat at my desk pounding the keys working on that powerpoint, the faster time went...

And the more anxious I got. 

It doesn't matter how long I teach, I still stress out and feel underprepared.  After all, there are lives on the line...

And I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Ann Voskamp. 

"Life is not an emergency."

Even though I feel like I skid from one start to the next, sirens blaring and lights flashing.

Look out... here comes crazy... clear a path for her.

It's not an emergency. 

And as I felt that smothering situation, that sense of impending doom (one of my favorite symptoms of so many fatal diseases)... I was stopped behind a bus. 

And this little boy hopped off, with a backpack bigger than he was.

It's raining, and there he goes, zig-zagging toward his house.

Zig-zagging because he's jumping in every single puddle along the way.

He's not worried about the rain.

And I started laughing, and then I started breathing again, because you can't hold your breath and laugh at the same time.

Thank You, God, for reminding me just to enjoy the journey..

And to stop being so dramatic.