Looking Beyond Daily Frustrations

Today has been one of those days where every single thing has frustrated me beyond measure. Actually, it has been one of those weeks. No matter what I attempt to do either gets all messed up, or my to-do list is longer than the amount of time to do it in, or something breaks, or dinner burns, or animals get sick, and so on and so forth. 

Nothing went right this week it seems. The washer broke, the goat's leg got cut, it stormed for 2 days and is now muddy so we can't plant, the tractor plow broke, and then the other tractor plow broke, in the same spot as the first one, nonetheless. We ran out of time to butcher the hog because of the rain making that part of a to-do list for another weekend. To tractor decided to stop working, it has been too windy and rainy to have the windows open, but humid and hot enough that the air was sticky without some breeze or air conditioner, or something to move the air. I have had a headache off and on for about 11 days and we aren't sure if it is the CML or if I am having an allergy, sinus, or blood pressure problem.

It has been a never ending struggle this week to not be overwhelmed (I lost the struggle several times and had to "start over"). In times like these I find it really easy to be angry at God instead of stopping long enough to pray and take one moment at a time. I am not proud of this. It happens more often than I would even like to admit to myself. 

Today I went out to plant the garden, it is still too wet. I had to help Morgan get the tractor deck back on, which fell back off when he hit a rock. I had him go ahead and put up my clothes line because I knew I couldn't dry clothes that were sopping wet without ruining the dryer and causing the electric bill to sky rocket. I was able to get the washer fixed  (Thank you Jesus) and so now I am able to wash clothes and spin them out. The good that come from this is without the washer being messed up the clothes line wouldn't have gotten put up and I would be wasting energy using up the electricity. This is a HUGE blessing for several reasons.

• I will save on energy bills
• I will get vitamin d from spending some daily time in the sun
• The sun will kill any bacteria on the clothes
• The clothes will smell fresh
• The clothes will last longer because they won't be going in the dryer
• I won't be heating up my house using the dryer
• I will get extra exercise by taking the clothes outside to dry

If I had been looking for the blessings all week I am sure my week would have gone much easier and it would have been much less stressful. 

For instance, if I had seen that the rain is causing the grass to grow which feeds our goats I wouldn't have gotten so upset about the rain. If I had realized that the pig not getting butchered means she can be fed out more and mean more meat in the freezer I wouldn't have been so upset by the rain. Had the washer not broken I wouldn't have gotten the clothes line out. Had Daisy, the goat, not been limping I wouldn't have known she had gotten hurt and wouldn't know to keep an eye on her. 

I must always remember to look for the good things. Even during the worst days there is always a reason to smile and to Praise God.