DON'T CRY...

...over spilled milk. For any family members (or Kirk) who may be reading this - yep, I did it again!!! It seems that I don't go for too long without spilling something and tonight I spilled milk... again.

When I was a kid, it was very common for me to spill whatever beverage (or cereal) I happened to be consuming at the time. Actually, things really haven't changed much. The worst time was when I was about 8 or 9.

The whole family was seated at the table for supper and I went to the fridge to retrieve a new bag of milk. In my exuberance to accomplish the task, I returned to the table kinda tossin' the bag of milk up in the air. Well, this resulted in a simple law of physics becoming all to real for me - what goes up must come down. And down it came, missing my outstretched arms in the "basket-catch" position and hitting the floor with just the right amount of momentum and in just the right way to... well... I consider the factors going into this event to be the requisite factors in creating the "Perfect MilkStorm" because when it hit, it split, and the bag exploded it's white bovine substance all over my Mom's kitchen.

This set my Dad into one of his very few yet very classic fits of rage complete with fist banging and a couple of "bloody-well"'s. This of course reduced me to roughly the same as the contents of the little plastic bag - just a pool of liquid on the kitchen floor. My Mom, though frustrated I'm sure, assured me that all was well, it was just milk and could be cleaned up. Then we promptly proceeded to do just that. We cleaned up the mess.

Tonight when I spilled the milk, my Dad wasn't there to yell at me and my Mom wasn't there to help me clean up. In fact, I was working at Christian Horizons where I support individuals with physical and mental challenges. One of the guys I support started laughing at the spectacle. He quickly stopped and apologized to me for laughing. I said, "nah, man - that's okay. It was pretty funny. Besides, you can't cry over spilled milk!". Confused, he asked what that means. I told him that it just means there's no sense being upset about it because the milk is still spilled. I might as well just clean it up and continue on.

How many times do we cry over spilled milk in our lives? How often do we dwell on things that we cannot change? How much do we berate ourselves over mistakes made, poor decisions, or what might have been? How much guilt do we hang on to when we sin - after asking for forgiveness? I know that it can be really tough sometimes. We've all been in those ruts before - "woe is me", "why did I do that", or "God doesn't love me anymore, I'm no good for him now". We need to just clean up the spill - fix the mistake, ask for forgiveness, determine to do different next time - and move on... "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13,14

What would happen if I just left the milk where I spilled it? Pretty stinky, eh. One thing I had to learn early on is that spilled milk quickly became spoiled milk and that was just gross. If there is spilled milk in your life be sure to clean it up - deal with it so your life doesn't spoil - then look ahead, press on toward the goal... our HOPE in Christ!!!