Squirrels and Psalm 46:10

This past couple of weeks have been ones of introspection for the Fabulous Ma'am. After a beautiful Christmas Eve at my sib's,surrounded by the parental units and my suddenly grown up neices and nephews, we repeated the fun at my house with a celebration of Christmas and family, complete with all the fattening food and my homage to pork. The day after Christmas I saw a book review called "Lighten Up." The author points out how we need to lighten our emotional load by lightening our lives of all the stuff, material and imagined that we spend so much time on.I felt he was speaking to me through the power of TV and became determined to sort out my own nonsense and get focused on what is important. My latest "important" concern has been finding the perfect cocktail dress for an upcoming charity event. Certainly nothing in those jam-packed closets would work. I NEED a champagne knockout dress that will break my mold of the LBD (little black dress). I found myself devoting hours to tracking down this elusive item. In addition to that, as previously chronicled, I did my crazy decorating for Christmas that I adore so much.Now I am faced with the reality that (1) Christmas is over (2) Epiphany was 3 days ago and (3) I am now in violation of my rule of tacky : Christmas stuff after Epiphany. To add insult to injury, I have what is commonly refered to in Houston as "The Crud".This diagnosis includes non-stop coughing, headache like an Everclear hangover, aching, congestion, and general bad juju. On top of this, my husband, Tom Berenger, wants to go hunting some more because 5 deer may not be enough if the government collapses and the Kroger is under seige.(Tom Berenger and his issues will be addressed at another time) Since I'm looking pretty pitiful for him to go to West Texas, he is staying to "take care of me" by rooting himself into the couch and watching football around the clock. If my coughing gets out of control enough to block the announcers on ESPN, then he lovingly suggests I take the knockyououtfordays cough syrup and go upstairs. He will check on me. Count on it.
I have learned not to involve Tom Berenger in my projects unless absolutely necessary. Is it a universal ManThing, or is Tom Berenger the only man whose response to the request "can you do ...fill in the blank?" is always "Does that have to happen right now?" Well in my weakened state I asked if it might be possible for Santa and the Elves to be taken out of the yard and put back in storage. Never, I repeat, never did I ask T.B. to do ANYTHING that required power tools. I came home from work to see Santa &Co on the driveway and TomBerenger smiling from ear to ear with a chainsaw in his hand. My boxwoods now look like they have a Marine haircut : high and tight. JarHeads. Santa is flat on his back in the driveway, no where near getting to storage but my shrubs have been scalped. I digress.
I have decided that in order to be less of a control freak I need to "let go and let God" (I read this on a church sign that usually gives me good thoughts for the day). I am embracing the opportunity to take advantage of every quiet moment and to be thankful that I recognize them. And also that I can take this split second to realize how lucky and blessed my life is. That is how I came to be praying while going through the carwash yesterday. I listed all the things that are good in my life and all the things that are happening in this world that I have been spared.
Sure, my yard looks like Camp LeJuene but it IS my yard. Tom Berenger is not interested in my decorating before, during, or after but I didn't marry Nate Burkus.
This morning I was having my coffee out in the sunroom, during what continues to be a severe windstorm. In the crape myrtle tree, I see one of the squirrels I feed and she is looking like she is frozen stiff. BushyTail is not moving a muscle. Upon closer inspection I see a hawk perched in the oak tree, eyes fixed on BushyTail. I knocked on the glass and Mr.Hawk flew away and BushyTail came back to life. As I sit back in my chair and continue to watch as the little sparrows return, I notice the little glass plaque I keep on the window sill. The kids have knocked it over a million times and it is chipped on the corner but I still love it. It is simply etched " Be Still & Know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.
It continues to give me comfort and I think BushyTail is glad that it applies to creatures great and small.