The mind is a terrible thing.

This morning as I shuffled up to the coffee pot in the dim glow of the light under the microwave with sleep still crusted in my eyes to get that first cup of wake-me-up
I stepped in something. Squishy. And cold.

My mind instantly went into overdrive as it explored the possibilities of what that squishiness between my toes could be. I took a step back and looked at the bottom of my foot. Nothing. At least it didn’t stick.

But as I peered through the left over sleep into the dark corner of the floor by the coffee pot I couldn’t make out the ick on the rug by the sink that had assaulted my right foot.

My first thought was that Fat Boy had another episode. Every once in a while something follows him out of the litter pan and gets randomly deposited around the house. It’s kind of embarrassing for him really and we don’t talk about it much. But he’s had his issues in the past so my mind immediately went there. The math made sense.

(Cold + Squishy) x Stepped_in / Before_coffee
= Fat_Boy_Present

Needless to say I wasn’t going to just reach down there and pick up that nastiness in the dark. (Not that I’d grab it bare handed in the light, mind you.)

So I flipped on the room light, stifled a groan as brightness assaulted my ocular system, grabbed a paper towel, and gingerly reached down to collect the piece of grossness that had so unpleasantly disrupted my morning routine.

It was a piece of mushroom. I guess it fell on the corner of the floor unnoticed by Gorgeous when she was doctoring up our pizza for dinner last night. No big deal.

I tossed it in the trash, turned off the oppressive artificial fire that was making my eyes water and went about my normal morning routine.

But it made me think.

Why did my mind instantly jump to what it conceived as the worst possible scenario?

Is that even healthy? I know I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to go through life with a doom and gloom attitude focused on all the bad things that might happen. The Bible says

Does it have to be that way? I mean I’d rather focus on the wonderful possibilities of the truly beneficial things that could happen. I mean before any given event aren’t positive outcomes just as possible as negative ones?

What else might change if I were to change my expectations regarding outcomes? Could something as simple as changing my expectations actually change how things ultimately work out in my life? Would life be more enjoyable?

There is a passage from the Bible that we read every week as a closing blessing right before we leave the service

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

I say it week after week. But do I really believe that God is able to do so much more than I can even image that it can’t be measured?

Or, more importantly, do I really believe that He will if I ask Him to?

And that’s a pretty big question to come out of stepping in a little bit of squishy first thing in the morning!

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