All day, I’ve been marching around, shaking my head in a funk, until we went sledding with some homeschool friends. Why do I forget that fresh air is the antidote for so much? We scooted down toward a beautiful lake with visiting geese, honking and hooting, and silhouetting their graceful necks for our visual pleasure. Halfway through, one of the boys took off his shirt and, on the sunny, southern slope slid down happily topless.

Cody asked me why I didn’t want to do that. “Why not, Mom? Why do girls care? Those things are just their silly things!”

Why does the universe engage in ironic echolalia? A similar question was asked only a day earlier by an entirely different source, which strangely dismayed me and made want to cry for being committed to virtue (although the Pope was quoted yesterday in the news saying that being virtuous does not mean being boring – another ironic echo). It’s not that I want to be hedonistic – it’s more a matter of the immediate; I wanted the person who asked me that question to see me as interesting, not boring. Just that admission also dismayed me. My values have formed for valid, protective, and selective reasons, not to mention the role of Spirit-Teacher molding me.

Today, when I was reading the Psalms, I was reminded again to not put undue faith and trust (or time and desire of approval) in man, but in God, because only he will last and substantiate our efforts to live by values. How often I must be reminded of this!

Cody reminded me too, though, that I just needed to laugh and actually visualize myself as the subject of a potential byline: “Topless Mother Slides Happily Toward Lake of Geese.” :) Alas, I tend to fret, when I should giggle.

When God can, I think he tries to tickle us.