A few weeks ago, while between appointments, we decided to stop in for a bite at a local coffee shop.  We got to the register and began to place our order.

Me: I’ll have a ham, egg and cheese on an “everything” bagel and a cup of house roast.

Them: Sorry to say, we are out of eggs.  You can have it without the eggs if you still want it.

Me:  Um, ok…let me think about this for a minute….um…ok…yes, that will be alright.

Flyboy ordered the same, and we sat down to eat.  Without the eggs, it tasted more like a ham sandwich, which obviously needs mustard.  Flyboy went up to ask for some. I heard him say, “no, forget it…” and wondered why. 

It’s because he was informed he’d be charged extra for that. You heard me.  Extra for the mustard.

What? They are charging for mustard when we paid for eggs we didn’t get? (Read that again with a sassy voice). Even if they did, all of a sudden, start charging for mustard, shouldn’t we have been given free mustard as a courtesy?  Because of the eggs? And if you’re gonna get picky about the mustard, why did we pay for the eggs in the first place? The mustard should have been free!

It was all about the mustard. 

I was seriously miffed.

I have to admit, I was way more upset over mustard than what it deserved.  I stewed about it the rest of the morning.  Flyboy wasn’t too far behind. We finally had to agree to stop talking about it altogether because we just couldn’t let it go.

I literally had to grab myself by the shoulders, look myself square in the eye and say to myself with deep conviction: “Get. A. Grip.  It’s mustard, for heaven’s sake.”

And then I remembered this prayer practice. Breathe in, breathe out.  Breathe in the Holy Sprit, breathe out whatever it is that is imprisoning you at the moment – be it sin, fear, anxiety, anger.

Or mustard.

Breathe in the Spirit, breathe out the mustard. Breathe in the Spirit, breathe out the mustard. Again. Again. Again. And with these simple words, I asked God to cleanse me of whatever it was underneath that made mustard such a stinking big deal in the first place.

What are you fretting about today? Chances are likely it’s nothing you have control over.  Go ahead.  Try it.  Breathe in the Holy Spirit. Breathe out [fill in the blank].  Get your day back.

Love,
Gigi

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  —Philippians 4:6,7 (NIV)