Ice Cream for the Soul

 

 

 

It was a long day of nothing going as planned, starting with the panic of someone else’s emergency showing up for me to make it right.

Ever been there? It’s stressful as hell. You’re moving so fast, you can’t really process what’s happening because you have to keep moving.

At certain points, I could feel my chest tightening and closing up with the ache of anxiety as I was trying to handle these stressful situations with grace. I could hear my true Self, the big “ME”, coaching the freaked out litte “me” in my internal dialogue.

It went like this:

 me: “I don’t have enough time to do this!”

ME: “Slow down and relax. You know how to do this. Trust yourself.”

 me: “I’m not even supposed to be here doing this, what the heck happened?!”

ME: “It means you’re supposed to be here. You know how this works, you aren’t really in control of the plan and that’s ok.”

me: “Ok fine. But this is WAY more than they said they needed and I don’t have the right supplies!”

ME: “You know you can Macgyver your way through any situation because you always have what you need.”

me: “AHHHHHHH!!!!”

ME: “You’re ok. Just breathe.”

Spoiler Alert! Everything turned out great, on time, and I did have everything I needed after all. Because that’s how it works. If you look for the good, it can find you faster, like magnets being attracted to each other. Thoughts + feelings = outcome.

Repeat after me: Everything I need is available to me when I need it. Not before or after, but in the perfect moment.

I continued to focus on the next thing I needed to do to navigate through my crazy day. A calm feeling was coming over me now that I was cool with the idea of a bigger plan happening. Each step was leading me to a new moment of this awareness.

As if I could see the symphony of events happening, and realizing I had no control over them. Clearly, I was where I was supposed to be, which was way better than where I thought I was supposed to be. Funny how we always think we know what’s best for us – even when we don’t.

Thankfully I remembered to step back, surrender and enjoy the flow. Because it’s all about the pause. Allowing yourself a moment to freak out if you need to and then also allowing yourself to take a breath and show yourself compassion when you need it most. All so you can keep taking one more step, and then another. Moment by moment.

Fast forward to the end of the day…

Sitting in our lounge chairs relaxing, Julian and I watched the trees sway in the breeze. Reflecting on how much I was grateful for, including having our Airstream parked at our home church, Unity of Savannah, since all of the RV parks were full for Spring Break.

I smiled thinking of how it all worked out, down to this very moment of pure joy with my little boy. It felt as if I had passed some sort of Divine pop quiz gauntlet or something. I had a happy heart and my peace. Success!

In that instant, I looked up and saw the cutest ice cream truck pass by as I wished we could celebrate somehow, a treat sounded good.

I thought how nice it would be if the truck would come back since Julian hadn’t experienced a real ice cream truck before. Then… all of sudden… I hear the lullaby version of “Sweet Child of Mine” from Guns n’ Roses getting louder – the next thing I know, the cute ice cream truck pulls in right next to our Airstream in the empty church parking lot.

I’m not gonna lie, the first thing I thought was, Whoa — you’re an aggressive little ice cream truck!

But before I could give it a second thought, the driver’s sweet smile was familiar and she exclaimed, “We go to church together!” and proceeded to tell me that our family had been such a blessing to her by the example of our lifestyle, so the sweet treats were on her!

And honey-child, she gave us the good stuff too – the organic almond milk type goodness that made our mouths and hearts smile big. With heart emoji eyes I asked her, “Is this real life? Can I take a picture with you to remember this moment?”

I was blown away by her timing and generosity. She didn’t know about my day or that I was wishing for a celebration or a big first to be checked off the list.

Jenni’s Treats on the Streets showed up as our ice cream angel to deliver both a party and a memoriable experience!

 

 

It was as if the Divine was giving me a wink to say, Good job today, here’s some ice cream!

My whole day, I was used to help others in random ways that only they understood, but now it was my turn to feel the love return to me in a way only I’d understand and boy was it sweet.

So the next time your day takes a turn, remember this story and to hit pause, give yourself a pep talk, and go with the flow. I promise it wants to lead you places that are far greater than you can image. Happy hearts > anxious hearts.

Love, peace, and ice cream!

xo Jules

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