Lessons learned from a frog

Yesterday morning we walked into the garage, like we always do when we get ready to go, and Mike took Kaitlyn around to her side of the car to strap her in her car seat.

I was getting into the car when I heard him say, "Oh! Look at that! There's a frog over here!" The frog was several feet away.

As Mike and Kaitlyn were looking at it, the frog hopped to the side a little and Kaitlyn let out a blood-curdling SCREAM.

She absolutely FREAKED! OUT!

We tried to reassure her that, 1) the frog wasn't going to hurt her; and 2) if the frog came anywhere close to her, she was in Daddy's arms and he would take care of her.

Our reassurances didn't do much to calm her, and she continued to freak out until we drove out of the garage. She talked about the frog the whole way (30 minutes) to Meagan's house.

As we drove, it struck me that Kaitlyn was only looking at the frog in relation to herself. She didn't see the frog in relation to her Daddy, or in relation to the fact that she was being held (and protected) by her Daddy.

And then it struck me that I often do the same thing when faced with "frogs" in my own life. I look at the circumstance in relation to ME, instead of seeing it from the perspective of my Heavenly Father.

When I look at various situations, all I can see is an icky, slimy frog who might pounce on me at any moment. The only thing I think about is what will *I* do if it jumps at me? What if it lands on my foot? What would I do? What if it knocks me over and starts hopping all over me??? What if it gets slime on me and I can't wash it off and then I'll be late for work and then I might get fired and then we might lose our house and then what would we do?

OH MY WORD THIS IS A HORRIBLE SITUATION AND WHAT AM I GOING TO DO????

[said in the whiniest and most panicked voice ever]

Yeah, so that's a little silly, but don't we sometimes get outrageous in our "what if" questions, when we let fear take over? I know I do.

These are the times when God (who is holding me in his arms) says, "Um, Erin, it's a frog. I'm bigger than it. Remember?"

The whole frog scenario was a great reminder to me, that I need to keep my eyes on Jesus. We have a few frogs in our garage (metaphorically speaking) at the moment, but I won't worry about them because God is so much bigger.

Ok, my flesh might take over now and then and I'll worry just a teensy bit.

But the Holy Spirit will gently remind me to put things in perspective. Instead of magnifying the problem (which leads to worry) I need to magnify the Lord (which leads to faith).

"O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3