It’s easy to talk about having a good attitude, when there’s no reason not to have a good attitude! The honesty of that saying comes into play when you’ve just had your 1,000th paper cut… When anything that could go wrong, has!

When frustrations begin, I usually start with just prayer and holding my tongue. Then come the light hearted remarks to those around me, that are meant to not only cheer them up, but to also convince myself to “have a good attitude”.

This works for a while but then the dominoes continue to fall. How much water can you hold before it starts spilling out the top? When will you drop the bucket and drown everyone around you?

As we grow up and become more mature, using our character muscles (The Fruits of The Spirit), we get better at it but even the most mature among us usually have a tipping point. I’m happy to say that my “Self Control” and “Long Suffering” muscles have gotten much stronger as I’ve gotten older, but I still experience things that really cause a work out!

It’s not the BIG things anymore. It’s the “1,000 paper cuts” that get me! Here’s my latest example that just happened to me, with a trip that was meant to give me much needed rest and relaxation!

I arrived at the airport, at 4:30 am, just as a bus load of military personnel had unloaded and gotten in the check in lane. It was the longest line I’ve ever seen at the airport in Jacksonville.

Those of us at the back of the line made little jokes and let those with shorter connections go ahead of those of us with a little extra time. We thanked our young service men and women, as we wished them happy vacations and waited patiently for our turns.

When I made it to the security line, my bag got picked for inspection. When you travel with a month’s worth of medication, you can look like a drug dealer….

Again, keeping things light and joking around.

I finally made it to my plane for the 6:30 departure, which was going through Charlotte, and onto St Kitts. Once arriving in St Kitts, I then take a water taxi to the island of Nevis, where we have a second home. We’re very blessed and should have nothing to complain about, is what most people think, I’m sure! Yes, we are blessed.

We started boarding the plane but we were turned around when the plane got a flat tire. There was only one mechanic at the whole airport and he was already working on a Southwest plane. It would be at least 4 hours and I’d miss the connection to St. Kitts.

Miraculously, I got one of the last seats on the Miami plane, leaving an hour later, with a connection to St Kitts! I boarded that plane and it too had mechanical troubles, and the bathrooms were broken.

The troubles were minor and we managed to leave about 45 minutes late and arrive in Miami, only to be told that the transportation train was broken down and I had ONE minute for last boarding to St. Kitts.

They were announcing my name throughout the concourse and I arrived just in time for them to stop the plane and reopen the door for me to board!

The agent had been calling my phone but she was calling our old home phone number that we haven’t had in over a decade.

Everyone clapped for me when I arrived, and I was again joking about everything and trying to have a good attitude!

The flight was uneventful but painful. After all of the rushing, sitting and stress, my body was not happy, but I continued to make jokes and kept a “positive attitude!”

I ended up being the last person in the customs line, of course, and the very nice (notoriously NOT) ladies in customs decide that all of my bags needed to be searched!

While searching I realize that my Liquid Gold that I had brought for my art work had busted in my bag of paints. Thank God it was in a plastic bag. Another paper cut…

Once again, everyone wonders if I’m a drug dealer but their whole attitudes change when I explain that I’m a patient, and I share the good news of how far God has brought my health!

Once again I am able to see how, what could be a frustration and a negative situation, has become an opportunity to share Christ’s love with those women and bring joy to others. By the time they finished searching my belongings, we were all laughing and were all blessed.

I was completely exhausted by then though! Just ready to start the “restful” vacation! My friend’s son picked me up to take me to the water taxi and he was a breath of fresh air and joy. I love him like my own son, so his presence made my stresses melt away.

The water taxi was 4 boats deep waiting on all of the people, which I’ve never seen before, so that was another long, confusing situation, but I finally got to Nevis!

I had to get a taxi to the house because my rental car broke down, but I was promised that I would have a car soon, and I wasn’t in any rush to leave the house anyway!

I FINALLY got to the house and it looked lovely but everything was in the wrong drawers, and dirty, etc after we had the place remodeled, and we were out of EVERYTHING, down to paper towels. No cleaning supplies, etc. Another paper cut….

To top it all off, there was a RAT that ran through my room into the main house area…. A RAT! We’ve never had rats! I’m not talking about a mouse. It was the size of puppy. Probably about 5 lbs or so, and he turned out to be very territorial of HIS bed!

I closed my door and had every light on. I was so exhausted that I had to try and sleep, so my hope was that the rat was more afraid of me, than me of him, and that he would stay away.

1:30 am, OUCH! I wake up and Mr RAT was running off the bed after biting my foot! Thank God he didn’t break the skin, but what was I supposed to do now!?!? I stood in the bedroom for about 2-3 hours, afraid to get in bed.

Finally, after not seeing him, I decided to sit up in the bed and watch TV. I sat for about 20 minutes, when out of the corner of my eye, Mr RAT decides to peek over the side of the bed…. That’s it, I’ve had it! I’m exhausted and my attitude can just “Kiss my Ass”! 😂😂😂

It was one paper cut after another until I was just defeated….. For a moment. We’re all human. We all have our limits. The Good News is that our Heavenly Father understands that and He doesn’t get mad at us or kick us out of the Family.

We just have to keep picking ourselves up again, recover from our battles, and next time we’ll be stronger.

It’s just like working out our physical muscles. Athletes push themselves to the edge. They actually injure and tear their muscle fibers, breaking them down, so that when they recover, the tissue is stronger and bigger than before. It’s in the recovery that the real work is being done!

The Fruits of The Spirit are the Character traits that we CHOOSE to develop in our lives, through our circumstances. When we’re in those moments of “battle”, and it feels like we will die of 1,000 paper cuts, we have to remind ourselves that we have choices to make. We can’t always choose our circumstances but we have the power to choose how we respond to them.

That’s what I always taught my own children. When one would say, “They made me so mad!” or “They made me do that!” I would tell them that I am not raising victims. We have the power to choose how we react and respond.

I’m not perfect. I get worn down and worn out too, but that’s when I know that I need to lean into my Heavenly Father, rest, and recover! I will build character muscles while I’m resting now!

I’m recovering today. Mr RAT and I haven’t settled our dispute yet. He’s got to go, and I’ve got friends coming to help me with that, but this WILL BE a blessed and restful vacation. I will handle whatever comes my way and try to do it with a good attitude!

Update! I am back in Florida now and happy to say that I had successful trip! The day after I met Mr Rat, I had friends come over to help me flip all of the furniture, to make sure he wasn’t nesting inside the house! Thankfully he wasn’t!

A pest control guy came over and we found the screen that Mr Rat had chewed through and he put bait there and throughout the house! Thank goodness I didn’t have young children or pets because it looked like candy bars!

I slept in the guest room again and the next morning, Mr Rat had taken the bait by the screen! We never saw him again but began to smell him a few days later. He was finally disposed of.

Our home in Nevis is like a tree house! It’s all on the second level and completely open air. The only room with glass windows is our guest room, with an AC, in case we need to escape the heat, or in this case a rat!

After 1,000 paper cuts, all ended well. So far I’m 100% successful at surviving crappy days!