Perfection Undone
‘Twas the morning of Thanksgiving when all through the house preparations had been made…
It was going to be perfect. The lawn had been manicured, the house had been cleaned. The table was set with the Woodlands Spode china set on Southern Living chargers, crisp white monogrammed linens and Waterford crystal. Fresh flowers adorned the table, and the food had been prepared. All was well, until...
Billy had gotten up early with the kids to let everyone else catch a few extra winks of sleep, but while watching The Lion King yet once again, he looked down and that's when the discovery was made. I heard him heading down the hallway, calling Margaret's name and saying, "Come and see."
A few moments later Margaret dashed into our bedroom with a look of shock across her face and announced, “Molly has lice.”
L-I-C-E... How could it be?
Margaret suddenly remembered the note that had come home from school the week before which told of an outbreak of the insects in Molly's class but, but at the time thought nothing of it.
Everything was supposed to be perfect on Thanksgiving Day. With the guests set to arrive in just a couple of hours would we be able to hide the newly discovered unwelcomed guests? No one in my family had ever had lice although the pesky little creatures are the second most contagious thing in children ages 3-10 next only to the common cold.
The pediatrician was called but since it was a holiday, no one bothered to return our call. Out came the laptops to research the topic ourselves. Comb, wash, vacuum...
A 24 hour drugstore was found that was open on Thanksgiving Day and Grumps went to buy the supplies. It's a good thing he went because he returned with a state of the art louse killer--a battery powered zapper comb and "shampoo" that was so thick it felt like molasses mixed with rubber cement. The mixture of both seems to have worked because after only one or two applications, it seemed that we were free of the lice.
The new dilemma was--do we tell or do we try to keep it a secret? It was determined that if the adults didn't tell, the kids probably would, so as soon as the esteemed holiday guests arrived, we confessed to them what had transpired earlier that morning. At first there were horrified looks from my mother and then laughter erupted as we described our eventful morning.
The Thanksgiving meal was perfect in spite of the unexpected visitors and I imagine it will always be remembered as the one with the uninvited guests.
Now you might be wondering what kind of a lesson I got out of this experience. Well, there might be a couple. First just when we think we have everything under control, the unexpected happens. Second, God uses unusual things to keep us humble, especially when we want things to be perfect. And lastly, there are always things to be thankful for, even if you do have a lice invasion.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
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