Have you ever gone on vacation and realized you forgot something?
It’s so nice of hotels to offer complimentary items commonly left unpacked, like toothpaste, soap and lotion, but honestly, I really prefer to have my own. I’ll just go ahead and confess—I’m one of those people who even like to have my own pillow if possible. Luggage space makes this preference an unnecessary item in packing, but if we are going by car you better believe this girl’s gonna take her pillow.
It’s not something I do often, because on the other hand, I’m sensitive to motion, and I’m uncomfortable sitting for extended periods of time. Therefore, “vacation” doesn’t feel too much like a vacation if driving is involved. Which the downside of that means my pillow isn’t involved in the packing either.
Pros and cons. Life is all about them.
Anyway.
Back to the forgetting stuff.
Surely we all have done it. Although The McCallister’s take-the-cake on forgetfulness. Please note: Brandon and I have never boarded a plane and realized we had forgotten a kid. Thank you, Home Alone for making us feel like such stellar parents!
Knock on wood, as of this point, we haven’t left behind anything too important. Nothing we couldn’t purchase anyway.
One of those purchases created a memory for us we are still laughing about!
I had forgotten my sunglasses.
We were on our way to sunny California, going to Disneyland, and I realized I didn't have them. That’s practically as bad as forgetting to pack the mouse ears.
Lucky for me there was a Brighton store in the Phoenix airport so conveniently located to our gate during our layover. I was really into Brighton back then and was already feeling the Disney magic as I strolled through looking for the glasses I’d be wearing in the parks.
Now, stay with me. This is where it gets funny.
The sunglasses I chose had gaps on the side of the lenses to add your choice of decorative pieces. In order to know which glasses were customizable, there was a sticker on the lens that said Add Me.
I so carefully picked out the sunglasses and the decorative inserts, as to include everyone’s opinion in the matter, as if they really even cared; nevertheless, walking out with my new sunglasses in the soft little bag the associate so sweetly slid them into.
Fast-forward to a day later when we are zip-a-dee-doo-dah daying it through Disney.
The sun had come out and so I got in our little Disney parks backpack to retrieve my new sunglasses.
I bet we had been on four rides, and I have to say, each time it appeared as if someone was looking at my glasses, I smiled at them with the warm thought they must really like them. Oh what a feeling! Oh. What. A. Feeling.
Keeping that in mind, I was MORTIFIED, in the funniest sort of way, when we stopped for some Mickey ice cream bars and pretzel sticks. Four kids in Disney means your husband is not, is not, is not going to be paying any attention to you. I know, because it wasn’t until Brandon went to hand me that ice cream bar that he began chuckling while managing to spit out, “Babe. You’ve still got the sticker on your glasses.”
WHAT?!?!?
I was confused by what he was saying. Until I took off the glasses to investigate what he was pointing at, and saw the ADD ME sticker right there still on the front of the lens!!!
O. M. Goodness.
Those people hadn’t been admiring my new sunglasses. No, they were probably chuckling to themselves like my sweet hubby, how funny it was that I hadn’t even removed the sticker.
Which, obviously I would have, if I would have seen it!
Isn’t that the way it goes?
I’d like to tell you that I’ve never missed something so obvious since, but I can’t.
And while it’s really funny to imagine how ridiculous I looked, you have probably had somewhat of a similar experience too.
How often do we put on our lens to block out the blinding rays of life only to miss the sticker of God’s goodness stuck right there on the front? Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
God is good.
However, so often we draw our conclusions based on our circumstances. Sometimes what we experience in our life isn’t good, so we conclude that He must not be either.
Please allow me to encourage you today, that God is good.
As a little girl I wondered very much about Him. And about His goodness.
I’m writing more in depth about it in my memoir but here were the basics I tried to understand.
Why didn’t God keep us safe and prevent our accident?
Why did Jon die?
Where was God when my body was burning on fire?
Why did I have to live with this body so commonly described as disfigured?
Those are just a few. Of course, life continues to bring circumstances that I can’t wrap my head around and that honestly seem downright unfair.
Nevertheless, what has had the most influential affect on my life was putting on the lens of His love and realizing that His goodness is stuck to it all.
It all came down to seeing it.
Like my husband telling me about the sticker on my sunglasses, sometimes we simply need someone to tell us.
I am blessed to share that message with you….
There are some snazzy sunglasses with a beautiful lens and God’s goodness is stuck right to the front of it. Everything you face in life, you can see through that beautiful lens and with His insurmountable goodness.
The Lord is good,
a strong refuge when trouble comes.
He is close to those who trust in Him. Nahum 1:7 NLT
P.S. Feel to zoom in on that photo and have a good laugh at the Add Me sticker on my right lens. We're all certainly still laughing about it around here!
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