I Deserve that bag of M&M's!!

I DESERVE THAT BAG OF M&M'S!! I am sure as I travel through this journey of writing my thoughts and musings down that I may from time to time "progress" or "digress," I am not really sure if those are correct words, but they fit my mind just now. Perhaps, I may even "sidegress" on occasion. (Miss Kiker, please forgive me...I know that you would not approve of that). Maybe you can give me a little latitude, just on this paper! I mentioned during my first post, that I would be telling a story of the passage of time in my life over the last several years. As I thought through those years in the days since that post, I realized that I thought that I really did deserve more than I actually had received. But, during a discussion with my wife this weekend concerning the plans for our church's Vacation Bible School program for this summer, I found out that I probably really didn't deserve the bag of M&M's after all. Vickie said that she had heard recently about someone sharing a story with some little children, and it went something like this.....The storyteller said that she started the story by telling the children that she had a bag of M&M's for them at the end of the storytelling session. All they had to do was to show that they qualified for them, and the candy was theirs. She began by telling the children about the tasks that they would have to accomplish to receive the reward that they thought they deserved. She began by giving them a list, that was easily seen to be things that they could not do.....pick up a car and change a tire by themselves....change the color of the sky....eat an entire elephant at one time. Soon, the children realized, that their dream of the bag of M&M's were not going to be theirs. But, the teacher paralleled this story to the story of how we do not "qualify" for the love and mercy that we receive from God, but, because He loves us, he showers us with blessings anyway. Then, she told the children, that because she loved them too, that they could come and get their M&M's. After all of those years of hard work, and honest dealings with people, I felt like that the reward of those efforts would be a successful business, sufficient money for my retirement years, etc...But, when things occurred like they did with the economy and our businesses, I was faced with the fact that what I thought that I "deserved" and what I was facing, would be two different things. As I mentioned last time, I had to go through a number of those phases that one must face when dealing with a loss of something important. However, after the travel through those times, I realized that God, my family, and my friends still loved me and cared for my well being. I began to see things happen...good things....things that I could not have made happen on my own. I had to realize that I could not and should not take any credit for these things, if I could not have caused them to come about in the first place. So, I realized that I still had a "bag of M&M's" coming my way. Maybe the bag looked a little different that I had expected, maybe it was a little smaller than I expected, maybe I didn't get them quite as quickly as I had expected, but I still had blessings coming my way. I came to understand that I didn't always understand the "Why's", "When's, and "Where's" of God's provision very well, but, that still didn't mean that those provisions were not coming. That realization made me understand very clearly that my "Plans" are not always the best for me. Therefore, I am trying to accept what comes my way, and then make the very best of it that I can. I have been wonderfully surprised at how well it works out when I let Him have the steering wheel. For that reason, I have started on the path to re-tooling, re-training, and re-branding myself. I have decided to use the internet to market the services that I feel that I have to offer. Hopefully, these years in the construction industry will still have some value. I will try to connect with more people, to offer more value, and hopefully to attract more sales for those efforts. Maybe, I will also sell other items, other ideas, other products. Perhaps, I will be able to "Give Away" things that hold value for some. Who knows, maybe I can give away assistance or kindness to someone in need. Maybe, that way, they might get their Bag of M&M's. I KNOW that I am going to get mine!! Remember, my theme is...... Building up homes! Building up businesses! Building up others!