The Happiest Place on Earth

One of the many cool things about being a grandparent is that you get to relive some of the more exciting parts of parenting. Tim and I recently took our two granddaughters to Disneyland for a few days. This was their Christmas gift from us and we decided to take them during their spring break. Unfortunately, a lot of other people decided to come to Disneyland on their spring breaks. How dare them! At times, we felt like salmon swimming upstream, but even with the crowds, we had a fabulous time. With the girls being 10 and 8, there were no strollers to manhandle, no one to pick up and carry, only a reasonable number of bathroom stops and both of them were tall enough to go on all the rides. Which we did – utilizing the fast pass system for the most popular rides that had a three hour long waiting line! As we were doing our best to have all the fun we could squeeze into those few days, we noticed that wasn’t the case with some of the other mouseketeers. In fact, there were some very unhappy people at the “happiest place on earth”. You’ve got to chalk some of the discontent up to fatigue, long lines and heat, but as we “people watched”, we determined that it wouldn’t matter how many treats, souvenirs or rides some of these kids got to experience, they were still determined to demand more. Even our granddaughters stopped and stared at some of the battles that were going on between an indulgent parent and a whiny child. Knowing how much this experience was costing the parents, I wondered if the thought crossed their minds that they could have had the same “fun” at home for nothing. But rather than stand in judgment of those ungrateful kids and their baffled parents – hey we’ve all been there and done that – it reminded me that I’m often that way with God. He lavishes me with His love, His grace and His favor, and I choose to focus on what I don’t have instead of what I do have. And talk about expensive! The cost of His blessings for me is immeasurable. Our trip to Disneyland, besides being a special memory with our granddaughters, reminded me that I want to choose contentment over comparison and gratitude over greed. Hopefully, I’m learning that the happiest place on earth for me is right where God has me, within His perfect will. After all, contentment is the seed of gratitude.   Here’s to livin’ it up in Cars Land and keeping it down on the Tea Cups,   Love, Darcy