Multitasking Mess

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

I am the queen of multitasking. A pretty smug queen. If I am not careful, I will also turn out to be a mother-in-law that makes my future daughters-in-law feel insecure and inadequate. Wait. You don’t know what I am talking about? I better rewind. I can’t juggle balls, but I can juggle projects, and this weekend, I was in my element. I borrowed my sister’s sewing machine to stitch up a couple of felt projects. I have been having fun making purses and eyeglass cases out of those shrunk up sweaters, but they required a sewing machine which I don’t have. So, my sister very kindly drug out hers from the back of her closet, cleaned it up and got it working again for me. She must know that Santa is watching for good little girls. Anyway, I set it on the bar in our kitchen and had a pile of fabric and felt around it. Next to it, I laid out my plastic mat and soap out ready to do more wet felting. On another part of the kitchen counter, I placed a couple of dozen Christmas tree and holly pendants to dry from where I glued the backs on them. In another area sat our large roasting pan full of enough spaghetti sauce to feed an army because youngest son’s friends were coming for dinner. Beside it were a pitcher of tea steeping, some glass projects ready to wrap and boxes of Christmas cards to address. Four dozen cupcakes waited to be frosted for a bake sale at work later that day. In the midst of it all walked in youngest son’s girlfriend, M. She looked around in amazement and instead of saying, “What a mess!” which I might have done were I in her shoes, she said, “Wow! Look at all you have going on! How do you do it?” I got a little proud, Yeah! Look at what all I can do. I’m sure something! I tried to be gracious and not to show it. Instead, I said calmly, “Oh, it’s not hard, I’ve had plenty of practice multitasking.” I could see she was impressed and stood watching as I rushed from one thing to another. About that time, youngest son bounced into the room. He’s always hungry so opened up the microwave to heat something up and there sat a bowl full of melted butter. Where did that come from? Oh, that was supposed to go in the cupcake batter. In my haste, I forgot and left it out. The cupcakes were good enough for the bake sale, but not great. I think M. was relieved to discover I am not perfect. We had a good laugh about it after I picked myself up from falling off my pedestal. Sometimes, we forget that it is more important to be real and honest than to leave a good impression. I know I learned that lesson the hard way. I hope M. benefits from my mistakes.