the cats are eating dog food and I packed a bag of candy corn for my kids lunch. Let talk perseveran

So much for my discussion on The Battle Of Trusting In His Plan on Instagram yesterday. I used the "question stickers" to get the conversation rolling...realized quickly that "posting a saved sticker" does not allow people the ability to type in their answer...and then I proceeded to do nothing about it.

After posting the useless stickers/conversation killer, I went to Target to buy pants for my son. I took a picture of the size tag in his old pants because I have lost all memory, was too lazy to write it down, and also, I am blind. I figured it was the most brilliant thing I have ever done..or anyone has ever done. It was that brilliant. I could go into Target, pull up the photo, enlarge the photo, and voila! I have and can see the size.

My phone died as soon as I pulled into the parking lot.

And the phone charger was in the other car.

After contemplating buying a charger at Target and charging my phone on the floor of the fitting room, I realized that was a waste of money not to mention I might look a little sketchy, so I drove home with a dead phone... and no pants.

And the other car? The one with the charger? That was at the shop. I have been mini van-less for days ever since I hit that pothole racing to get my son to football practice on time. The good news is we picked up the mini van yesterday and only had to sell one of our livers to pay for it. The other good news is as we picked up the fixed car, our other car began to smoke. I know. Sounds like bad news. But if your car looks like it is about to explode, might as well do it at the mechanics.

And by the way. After hitting the pothole I managed to still get to football in a car that sounded like it wanted me dead...to find that practice was cancelled. Glad I raced there and broke my car to hear that.

This morning I packed the worlds worst lunches, next to packing a dog bone or slipper. The super worst goes to my oldest daughter. She got a blueberry muffin, bag of tortilla chips, ritz crackers, a zip lock of cheese balls and an entire bag of candy corn. Not the fun sized kind. But like, the actually huge bag. Not sure if she will be excited for herself or concerned for her mother.

And the cats got dog food for dinner and breakfast. Because we are out of cat food.

Luke 21:19 says that by your perseverance you will secure your lives. Good to know.

Saint Gregory the Saint said, "The essence of every good work is perseverance." Also, good to know.

And CCC 1839 says "Experience teaches us how virtues grow through perseverance in struggle."

Hmmmm....I have a love hate relationship with this one.

And if I had to write a sequel to the everyday battle it would probably focus on the perseverance in the struggle required, and how important it is that we do endure and run our race. Because cats and kids with no food, and cars that don't run and blow up, and phones that die, and memories that vanish, and eyes that lose sight...are these not Jesus coming to us in what ever mess of a state we are in, crouching down low and saying, "Just leave it. The cat the lunch the car the phone the pants....the stuff you aim to use to fill your day and make things happen and give you purpose and get you so frustrated when they don't go your way and bring you down and allow the enemy to gain a foothold and blah blah blah...just leave it. For one second, leave it. And follow me.I know a better route, by the way, than the one you are trying to run down. Come and see."

I mentioned to a friend yesterday that the song broken road was stuck in my head.

It was strange, because I had not heard it in forever.

It was just there.

That one lyric.

God bless the broken road that lead me straight to you.

But isn't it true?

These everyday battles...we want to smooth them out, wipe them out, rid our lives of them. Fill in the potholes and even out the bumps.

We think we can get up early and fit in our work out and write positive affirmations in our journals and be mindful and do whatever self-help-y things that are really all about self love and worshiping half gods and at the end of the day, are at best, dreams built on sand...

when the truth?

The truth is...we need to travel the broken road, as it is.

We need Christian perseverance; the kind that doesn't call us to hustle, but that by waiting and calm assures us we will be saved. The kind that calls us to quiet and trust, not working for control, for that is where our strength lies. (Is 30:15b)

And that is just it, isn't it?

At the end of the day, we want to be saved.

From the poorly packed lunches and the cars that break down..we want to be saved from it all.

And I am feeling a little turned off today by the whole YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE message I am hearing, because good grief, are people believing this? We are not in control of our circumstances more often than not. So when all goes to hell, now what?? What is your foundation? Where is your strength? In your work out? In your positive affirmations? Good luck with that.

I learned the hard way that we can not save ourselves or the ones we love.

By trying to smooth out my broken road and the broken roads of others...what I have actually done is made the road longer and harder.

When I try to save myself from things out of my control, I build another obstacle between me and the only One who can actually save me.

We can not save ourselves.

And we can not persevere without a Savior.

Good thing we have one.

How do you get to Him?

Take the broken road.

There is really no other way around it.