Big Feelings

It was the night before Everett’s eighth birthday and everyone was excited for the festivities to come.  I was sitting at the table with all my kids and took a breath for my "Preparing for Big Events and Let Downs" speech.  One of my children struggles with differentiating between good and bad big feelings (all big feelings cause meltdowns; including happy excitement) and it has made me intentional about preparing for big feelings. ​

“Alright guys.  Tomorrow is Everett’s birthday and it’s going to be awesome.  We are going to have a great time.  However–“

“We already know what you’re going to say,” Darla interjected.  

I raised my eyebrows and she continued, “You’re going to say that there are going to be good moments but also bad moments.  It won’t be perfect but we can still enjoy the good even when there is bad.  Right?”  She flashed an I’m-too-smart-for-my-own-good smile at me and I laughed.

“Pretty much verbatim, Darla.  Big happy feelings can quickly swing hard to big sad feelings.”  
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I remind my kids regularly that we live in this weird paradox; the world is a fallen, dark, sinful place, yet God leaves His handprints on everything and uses even sinful, dark things to demonstrate His glory.  When His light shines into the dark, the contrast awes us.  We tend to think of our mountains and valleys separate but that has not been my experience.  Often the sweetest comes in the hardest.  Many of my spiritual victories have come on the heels of personal defeats.   

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