shoo wasp don't bother me

FROM "A LESSON LEARNED"
We're in the full swing of summer and one of our favorite activities is swimming! Sure it's fun to go to the public pool but way more often then not we swim in our backyard! We don't have a huge pool but we have a big enough pool for both kids and adults to swim in and have fun! We swim nearly everyday and our daily uniform lately has become nothing but swim coverups, air dried chlorine hair and the scent of sunscreen! Mmmmm! It makes me wanna go back out just thinking about it! Nothing says summer like the smell of sunscreen on your skin! There is one negative, however, when you have a pool set up in your backyard. Where there is standing water...there is bugs. Yuck. We haven't had too much trouble with mosquitos but we have had quite a few wasps. (awesome...) We don't have a nest anywhere near our house, or at least not one that we can find, but there is one somewhere nearby because far too often a wasp will disturb our swim time. Now...when just mommy is swimming with the boys, as soon as the wasp is spotted we usually exit the pool all the while myself shooshing the boys and trying to calm their panicking as they make their way to the deck and back into the house, but if daddy is swimming with us he successfully hunts down the pesky wasp and disposes of it so we can continue swimming in peace! Thank you daddy! One day inparticular as the boys and I were swimming while daddy was at work this one stubborn wasp would not leave us alone. I had gently shooed it away several times and it would fly somewhere into the distance but then show back up only moments later. After several reapperances the boys were paranoid and constantly on the lookout for our not-so-friendly friend. They were both just huddled in the middle of the pool, nearly completely underwater, watching for the wasp. I kept telling them to keep swimming...kept reassureing them that "mommy was on the lookout for the wasp" and that they should just play and have fun and I would let them know if we needed to move or even get out of the water. The boys, though, weren't too keen on the idea of splashing and playing when a dangerous wasp was looming somewhere in the distance. I have to admit that I eventually got frustrated with them and wanted to just shout "I WON'T LET THE WASP GET YOU! JUST PLAY!" I kept my cool, but in the midst of my begging and pleading for my boys to have fun while I stood guard something dawned on me and the Lord spoke to me loud and clear!
LESSON LEARNED? I DO THIS!! I DO!! And I hope you can learn from my constant mistake in this area...and I hope I'm not alone in needing to learn this lesson. I do, and I'm sure some of you do this exact same thing with the Lord! It seems so simple but we make it so hard! All God is asking us to do is live. He created us to be exactly who we are and to live this moment in time and all He asks from us is that we build our families, do what we love and what we are called to do and form relationships with people around us and yet somewhere along the way we've taken it upon ourselves to guard and protect our own lives. Whether we put up our guard against physical attacks, health scares, emotional break downs or simply our day to day annoyances we have taken control away from God! Yes, there are wasps out there! Yes, there are things in this world that we want to avoid and things that we would rather not come near our lives or our families but it's not our job to be on the look out for them! While the boys and I were swimming that day I kept telling them to "just swim" and I would keep an eye out for the wasp and warn them if it came closer but they refused to stop looking for it! They couldn't enjoy swimming because they were too focused on the wasp...which I was protecting them from anyway! In the same way, God is looking out for us and yet we refuse to give up control to Him. We insist on looking out for ourselves and protecting ourselves from what we "think" can harm us. We want our own plan to stay safe and we're not trusting God will do the protecting for us! Why? Just swim! Have fun! We don't need a plan! We don't need a strategy! God is watching for the wasp and all we need to do is live and listen! Live the life God has blessed you with while keeping your ears open to what God needs to tell you. He'll speak to us if and when He needs to! Don't be afraid to give up control...MUCH easier said then done (believe me, I know!) but what's the worst that can happen? Honestly, missing out on a moment of this life and God's blessings because of a persistant fear of what "could be" is worse then anything this life has in store for us! LIVE! LOVE! LAUGH! RELATE! CREATE! EARN! BUILD! RELAX! God is watching. God is loving. God is protecting. He wants what's best for you!