My two weeks at one of my most favorite Happy Places have come to an end. Aahhh, how I loved working at the Minnesota State Fair!
The fair is known for its collection of all things food—much of what you can eat on a stick. And every corner seems to have a cotton candy stand. The bright, gluey mass of sugar spun around a paper cone is a fair-goer’s favorite. (My favs are Sweet Martha’s Cookies and Peters Weiners. But that’s a little off topic. So, back to our cotton candy corners.)
I watch moms trying to clean sticky kiddo fingers glued together in pink sugar. This is the last time we’re getting cotton candy! No, you can’t have more! Bless them.
That sweet, colorful treat is everywhere. And it reminds me of how I wake up some mornings. Maybe you know the feeling.
My mind feels like a cotton candy machine. Spinning in circles, collecting a variety of to-dos and random worries until my brain feels sticky. Even if my alarm says I still have hours before my feet hit the floor, my heart and head are already wide awake. And my stomach? Like I just ate too much of that airy, nothing-healthy-in-it pink fluff.
Sigh.
Most mornings, I’m energized and grateful. Family, friends, home, love, football, music, books, the blue sky, ice cream. But sometimes? The sticky moments show up before I even roll out of bed.
Maybe it comes from my small-town, growing-up years. You work hard. You get the job done no matter what. Or maybe it’s people pleasing, or worrying, or plain old stubborn pride.
But here’s the deal. Whatever the reason, that swirling, gunked-up list doesn’t have to control my day.
Whatever our reason for letting that overwhelming to-do list gunk up our thinking and stick to our attitude, we don’t need to stay in that messiness. (By the way, “gunk up” just feels like the right action word, don’t you think?)
Here’s what I’ve learned:
When the messiness wakes me up, I have a choice. I can lie there and swirl in the worry. Which. Does. Not. Help.
Or I can shift my focus. Like my friend David in the Psalms taught me:
I will enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5)
When I choose to remember all the good things God has given me—how very faithful He is—my sticky swirling gets replaced with peace. The gunky mess gets replaced with hope.
What I focus on determines how I feel. Since spinning in my worries doesn’t fix a thing, I choose gratitude. When I start listing what I’m thankful for, my heart rate slows, my muscles relax, the day feels do-able. The cotton candy machine stops spinning.
In those few seconds between messy thoughts and opening my eyes to greet the day, I get to choose.
This reminder isn’t served on a stick, but it’s served from my heart:
Life is too short to stay in sticky and gunky.
Let’s step into today with gratitude.
That will make all the difference.
