It’s taken me a while to turn my thoughts to this baby…life as it is now has been crazy and busy and all-together more than I can handle at times. Around 30 weeks I realized how soon this babe would be here and began to prepare…sort of. It was like everyday I would become fixated on some that I HAD to have for the baby or something I HAD to do before she comes, but none of it was of any real importance. I wasn’t really preparing. I was stalling by filling my every thought with things I thought I needed.
The Internet is a wonderland for the creative senses. Options are seemingly endless. For the right price you can get just about anything. eBay, Etsy, and Pinterest are incredible places to shop and brainstorm. I was looking at hats, car seat covers, canopies, Robeez, etc. I picked out all my favorites and planned when I would order them so as to not blow up the checkbook all at once.
The one thing I’ve been fixated on more than any other has been a new car seat cover. Ours is perfectly fine, but it’s brown, khaki, and yellow. It screamed BOY!!!! to me. I wanted something completely girlie and gorgeous for this last baby of ours. I found this adorable cover at a reasonable price. The seller was even willing to customize it for me with the colors I wanted and make it to fit perfectly on my car seat.
Then the other night my carefully laid plans began to unravel. I had ordered the canopy pattern and had all the materials I needed to get started on it. The Music Man pulled out the car seat so I could measure it. That’s when I saw that our seat was not the one that I thought it was. We didn’t have a Graco. We had an Evenflo.
I was already emotional and this put me over the edge. I had been so fixated, mildly obsessed even, that this mistake (on MY part) caused me to lose it. Completely. As I sat on the floor in front of the car seat crying all I could think of was the millions of mothers around the world who just hope and pray for healthy, full-term babies and the strength and provision to care for them once they’re born and here I am crying because the car seat cover I want may not be exactly the way I wanted it to be. What a First World Problem!
That’s a First World Problem.
That’s a phrase that gets said alot around our house lately. It’s our way of reminding ourselves and our kids that most of this world is just struggling to have food and clean water. It keeps our “problems” in perspective.
A few examples of First World Problems:
As I sat on my basement floor thinking about when had I grown so oblivious to reality, I realized that none of it mattered to me. I had a perfectly good car seat with a great cover that would work beautifully for my little girl regardless of what color is was. I asked God to forgive me for being so selfish and ignoring His heart for the world. In an instant the insanity that had been my obsessive fixation on a new car seat cover was gone and I was ok with it! I felt the weight of a thousand pounds lift off my shoulders. And I haven’t thought about it since.
This is my experience. I’m not saying that you are ignoring starving children in Bangladesh if you buy a new car seat cover for your little one. I just know what the Lord was asking of ME and I responded to that. You need to be obedient to what He asks of you which may be very different than what He asks of me. I just encourage you to keep your heart close to His so that as He reveals His world to you, you are ready, willing, and able to do what His bidding.
But keep in mind the blessings we live under in our great nation, where things like this bring such joy to an otherwise dreary day. While extremely entertaining, it’s definitely a First World thing.
My Thoughts Exactly... 