December 9 – “Misty Probabilities”

Christmas shopping is a very strange thing.  Actually, I guess it's possible that all shopping is strange.  I only do the woman-kind of shopping around Christmas.  That's where you go to the mall.  WalMart or Target just won't do.  Not enough options, I suppose.  Once you get there, any lists you have prepared ahead of time become but misty possibilities in the wake of all the new opportunities suddenlt at hand.  Now when you come across one of the items you entered the store for, the "proper" approach is to pick it up, scrutinize it carefully, talk about why it is most likely the right purchase.  And then you put it back on the shelf and say, "OK.  We know where that one is.  Let's keep looking."  Looking for what?  That's what we came to buy.  We sought our prey.  We found it.  Let's get it.  Let's check it off our list.  Let's move on to the next thing.   Actually, Chris is not too bad to go shopping with.  For one thing, if she gets frustrated, she's ready to go home.  That could be a good thing in most cases.  But we had only today to finish.  We leave for Josh's graduation in the morning.  And we're having our Christmas celebration up there.  And the whole family is coming.  So we had to finish.  Today.   Lifeway was simple.  Return a broken ornament and buy another one.  Realized later that we forget to get one gift there, though.  Oh, well.  It's not Christmas yet.  Next we went to Sears to get one specific item that was on sale.  Great.  A hunt.  What could happen?  Boots.  Boots could happen.  Ladies' boots were on sale, too.  What do you say to a lady who lost all her shoes in a flood?  We got Chris some boots.   As always, we ended up in WalMart.  Spent some time talking to friends – again, as always.  As we dug through clothes for preschool boys, I could sense that frustration creeping up in Chris.  By the way, did you know there is a difference between 24 months and two years?  There is in the boys clothing department.  Go figure.  Well, that task completed, we moved on to toys.  Woo Hoo!  All we had to do was get one toy for each of the boys to be from MeeMaw.  Let's get it and go!   Not so fast.  This one costs too much.  That one is not made for two-year-olds.  No, it has little, mouth sized bites … er … parts.  The frustration mounted until Chris finally said, "You pick out the toys.  I'll be over picking out something for your mom."  I established where that would be.  See, I assumed I would finish before she did, but I carefully avoided saying that.  Sure enough, she left, I turned around and saw just the right thing for Jachin.  And look!  There was something perfect for the two little guys.  Nail it!  It went so fast I was afraid to go over to Chris right away, so I killed a few more minutes in the toy section.    We finally got our last gift and headed home.  Well, not home.  Not even Omega Bay.  We still had to wait around Galveston to hear from Firestone when they finished installing the two new tires on the Explorer.  Our mechanic noticed the problem earlier in the day after he did some work on it.  But that's another story.  A never-ending story.  Chris actually spoke to the car.  Told it, "You better enjoy this little makeover, because it's your last."  Sounds prophetic.   Whew!  Shopping for "misty possibilities" is tiring.  I think I'll stick to the sure thing.  I feel like that blind guy who Jesus healed.  The religious leaders were pressuring him to denounce Jesus and he said, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." (John 9:18, 24)   Father, thank you for being the "sure thing" I can count on.  I'm ready for some sure things.  Amen.