It’s almost Independence Day!
I love the 4th of July.
I love what it stands for!
Freedom is one of my favorite things!!
I love how we celebrate it…family, food, firecrackers!
It’s awesome.
But, there is one particular July 4th weekend that is forever etched into my psyche.
We had gone to the lake with some good friends.
It is a memory made memorable by several moments…
We stayed in an aluminum pop-up camper that smelled like a combination of bug spray and mayonnaise.
We lived on delicious camp dietary staples like pork and beans and Vienna sausages (which are NOT made in Vienna, but somewhere in Minnesota…shocking, huh?!)
During our time there, I got a huge sun blister on my nose, it seriously looked like there was a flesh colored balloon growing out of my nose! That was pretty gross.
And, in the interest of toilet transparency (and a little sibling ribbing), It should also be noted that on this particular trip my brother deliberately defiled the water, he pooped in the lake because he was scared of the sketchy lake bathrooms…oh, it’s true!
BUT, the craziest story from this trip involved a styrofoam blob and some angry fireworks.
Me, my brother and some buddies were just hanging out on this huge chunk of styrofoam in the middle of the lake. We had swam out there and we were just sitting, talking and watching the day go by. It was a good time.
We could hear an Eagles song wafting through the air from someone’s campsite…
“I got a peaceful easy feeling,
And I know you won’t let me down
’cause I’m already standing on the ground.”
It was just that, a peaceful easy day on the lake.
BUT, SUDDENLY THE PEACE WAS BROKEN!
I heard a weird sound buzz past my sunburnt ear…PHIZZZPUTH.
Then It felt like something bit my leg.
I looked down.
It was a pop bottle rocket!
It burnt my portly thigh.
I screamed like a 7 year old girl and flung the firework out of my lap into the lake.
Suddenly we were under fire.
There were a couple of muscle shirt wearing rednecks sitting on the tailgate of a shortbed ford truck, laughing and shooting pop bottle rockets at us!
ZIP…ZIP…ZIP..
It was horrifying!!!
We ran around in little spastic circles trying to dodge the projectile pop rockets.
Fortunately none of the fireworks exploded. Because of an angsty adrenaline rush, we were able to fling or kick them all into the brown water.
Finally, we came to our senses and jumped into the lake.
We frantically swam to shore.
By the time we got there, the hillbilly bullies had taken off.
It took us a while to settle down and regain the peaceful easy feeling.
We couldn’t eat Vienna sausages for almost 15 minutes.
Life is like that sometimes.
You are minding your own business and SUDDENLY something comes out of nowhere and bites you.
People can hurl a lot of things at you.
Words.
Accusations.
Hurt.
Hate.
Lies.
There are always going to be haters, bullies and jerks trying to disturb your peaceful easy feeling.
And when they do, the pain is real.
It stings.
It burns.
But, it doesn’t have to blow up in your face
The secret is to get it out of your lap as quick as you can!
Hurl it away!!
Sometimes, that looks like forgiveness.
Forgive as fast as you can.
Practice competitive forgiveness.
The offense hurts.
It stings.
It burns.
But it doesn’t have to blow up in your face!
Get it out of your lap as quick as you can.
Don’t let it explode!
Hurl it!!
Forgive!!
THEN…jump in the lake.
Get away from the blob of pain!
Don’t let them hurt you again!
Forgiveness is not forgetting.
Just because you forgive someone doesn’t mean that you have to trust them again.
Nobody should have to live on the blob of pain.
Forgiveness is declaring your personal independence from the hurt.
You refuse to let it have power over you.
The freedom that comes from forgiveness is one of my favorite things.
BOOM.
carbonated joy 