A Painful Burn is a Painful Lesson

On Monday evening, Andrew and I were sitting together on the outside swing. We were talking about many things, but I for one, was having a very bad attitude.

That morning, we found out that an apartment we wanted fell through and was given to someone else. It was a tough thing, but soon that saddness was replaced by finding out that some of my customized spoons for Sweet Lucie's were set up on the landscape for their feature with one of the hottest LA Morning News Stations!! It was an honor and a privilege and I was on a cloud for most of the day.

Yet, somehow, I still managed to have a bad attitude by the end of the day. I was complaining about...well, everything. Worrying about our future and many other things!! Lets just say, I was acting completely childish and really had no grounds to be complain about anything. We are so blessed and have been given so much...Andrew tried to coax me into stopping, but I was on a roll. Complaints kept pouring from my mouth.

Shortly after this complaining session, Andrew asked if I would make sweet tea for him. We went inside and I started to make it. I put the water on and got out a glass pitcher to pour the water into so that the tea bags could steep. After a few minutes, the water had boiled and the tea kettle was screaming to be picked up! I poured some sugar in the pitcher and then all the boiling water... Right as I poured the last few drops, I had a quick image in my head of the pitcher shattering. I quickly removed the image from my head as...That wouldn't have been good!!! Right?!?

Not even 10 seconds later... it came true!!! The pitcher shattered before me and the water poured over the counter onto my pants! Thankfully I was wearing basketball shorts and could remove them quickly and I ran out of the room pulling at them to get them off. To my dismay, I looked down and I was burned on both legs...badly. I heard Andrew yelling if I was okay from inside the kitchen, as he was stranded in a pile of water and glass slivers! He somehow managed to quickly escape and came to my rescue. He quickly helped me into the back yard and told me to jump in the pool, giving me the water hose to hold cold water on it... He ran inside to look online for what we should do.

I stood in the pool, helpless, crying, as the pain was more breathtaking than anything I had felt before. I instantly realized... it was a lesson. I started to pray and cried out, " Okay, God! I get it... I learned my lesson... my life could be worse! Things could be worse!! I shouldn't have been complaining and I am sorry! Just take the pain away and I will never complain again!" Funny how we think that we can just TELL God we get it and the pain will go away... but no, lessons are often learned the hard way.

It was a long painful night, however, I was able to sleep and was happy for that. My leg is still blistered (the picture above is from today!). I am keeping it covered with gauze and putting neosporin on it.

The following day, I hobbled down the stairs to go into my basement studio to work on as many orders as I could, as its been very busy in the shop!! I went over to my work station and saw a puddle of dried, sticky, sugar water in the EXACT place where I work on orders. Somehow, it had seeped through the floor... RIGHT WHERE I WORK!!! Another reminder.... All I heard was, " I have blessed you more than you know and all you can do is complain about things...Be thankful, I am taking care of you." I cleaned up the mess in the basement and got to work, realizing that I truly am blessed.

Now, do I wish I could have learned this lesson WITHOUT the awful burn on my leg.... UHHHH YES!!! But, did I learn my lesson in a way more powerful way with this burn on me leg... Ummm.. YES!!!

Everyone who has seen it has said that it will probably scar and Andrew asked me yesterday if I was going to be sad if it does. I looked at him smiling and said, " NOPE!! It will serve me as a reminder everyday to not complain!... If there is one thing I know about my relationship with God, its that HE KNOWS that I need a good kick in the pants or a visual reminder of His commitment to growing me more and more into the likeness of Him."

Sooo... I am now taking guesses of what my little scar might end up looking like! I pretty much will have a free tattoo with an image that I have [not chosen] but will remind me of my childishness way and to flee from them!!

As for the shop, this little incident has put me back a few days, but I am still working hard to get orders out and create new things!! Here are a few new ones from today:

I hope that my painful lesson can serve as encouragement for you today... You are blessed, no matter what your situation. Sometimes you have to look at things a little differently to see the lessons that you can pull out. If you have anything that you realized through this post or have learned the hard way recently... feel free to share it with me in the comments!! I love hearing about what others learn as I believe that it can open our eyes to what we cant see on our own.

C.S. Lewis once surmised "that each person is created to see a different facet of God's beauty. Something that no one else can see in quite the same way and to bless all worshipers with an aspect of God that they could not otherwise see."

Until next time... <3