The other day started like any other day. I woke up, threw on my running shoes, pranced down the stairs, gave Josh a big hug and headed out the door for my 10 mile run. Haaaaaaaaaaaaa. Wait, wait, wait..... that didn't happen at all. What actually happened was I woke up and hit the snooze. Not once, but twice. I rolled over and saw Josh open his right eye. We grunted at each other and I reluctantly got out of bed. By the time I hobbled downstairs it was about 5:15. I got my coffee and sat down in a fog of pure bliss because as hard as it was to get out of bed, I love my morning time. I no sooner went to write the date in my journal when I saw something on the back of my calf. They were the size of a pencil eraser, all crimson and glowing when my eyes first landed on them. My head tilted in amazement because I didn't even feel that they were there. Yes, you guessed it, two beautifully placed mosquito bites. I saw them and do you know what the first thing that popped into my head was? DO NOT ITCH THEM. I heard my mom's voice too. "If you keep itching them it's only going to get worse!" I'm just wondering who on planet earth has ever been able to resist itching a "bug bite" as we folk also like to call them. Well, I would like to say that my 36 year old self was able to resist the lure of those pesky bites, but alas I started digging like I had struck gold. And guess what? That was all my brain could focus on. I started to journal and in their annoying little voice I kept hearing "itch me, itch me, itch me." And, you guessed it, I did. I couldn't do anything but itch those centimeter sized nuances. Time kept passing and my mind could literally think of nothing else. I longed for the moment prior to that first itch. If I had never started to itch them, they wouldn't have bothered me and they would have gone away quickly and faded away without harm.
Do you know what else are like those bites? Our thoughts. God used those mosquito bites to teach me a humbling lesson. I so often "itch" negative thoughts and then they are the only thing my mind can think about. Sometimes this shows up in my marriage. I mean the only people that don't struggle with this are usually Disney princesses, so if that is you, you may stop reading now. Hee hee. So, if Josh does something that rubs me the wrong way, instead of constantly replaying what he did in my mind. You know: itch, itch, itch. I could give him the benefit of the doubt and realize that I'm annoying sometimes too. (I know its very hard to believe). When we don't see eye to eye on something I can itch, but what good would that do?
So I've started to resist the urge to itch in my marriage... and in my friendships. I'm not perfect at it, and I certainly might start to itch then have to slap my "hand" away. It's easy to itch, but its harder to look the other way.
The next time you get a mosquito bite think of me and for goodness sake: DON'T ITCH!!
Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.
Proverbs 19:11
Thank you!
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