You know those moments. The moments when you’re tempted to absolutely lose control. When anger rises quicker than the reason to suppress it. When the straw breaks the camel’s back and the mouse sinks the boat.

Do you know about those moments? I do.

It’s been really hot lately. Australian summers are hard to beat, but lately it’s been even hotter.

I have a husband who hates the heat. Loathes it. With him, irritability rises with the mercury of the thermometer. The hotter it gets the further I run.

Today was especially hot. Which means today he was especially irritable. We escaped with the kids to the sanctuary of the air-conditioned mall. His aim: to get a bag of polystyrene beans for our bean bag. His purpose: to sit on the bean bag and watch a movie with the fan directly on him after having a swim in our pool.

Great plan.

But then the moments started rolling in. I won’t bore you with each infinitesimal detail – the dropped milkshake, the pushy crowds, the child tantrum, bla bla bla – but as each insignificant irritation began fusing with the next, we could feel ourselves beginning to bend under the weight of burning frustration and irritability.

At last we find our beans. We grab the bag and shove it in the trolley with all of the other items we never intended on purchasing. He pushes the trolley ahead of me with the two monkey children climbing all over it.

Fifteen metres to the checkout. Ten metres to the checkout. Nearly there. Eight, seven…

…uh oh. My eyes widen in horror as a trail of bubbly white ‘snow’ begins to fall from the trolley.

“Stop!” I yell. He turns around. His expression matches mine and we stand there helpless as a thousand (and probably more) white beans flow from a tear in the plastic packaging. They roll out over our feet and spread in an airy fashion across the floor and down the aisle. We try frantically to stop the beans in their escape, but tiny polystyrene balls are literally unstoppable. The more we try to control them, the more they slip through our fingers and are whisked away by the breeze of our efforts.

It is the straw to break the camel’s back and the mouse to sink the boat.

But then the ludicrousness of the situation finds me. Here we are battling it out with these out-of-control beans and they are winning…effortlessly.

A smile starts in the corner of my mouth. ‘No, don’t let him see it; he will NOT think this is funny!’ But I can’t help it. I drop my head and let a little giggle escape. He looks up and sees me. Oh no, I’m done for!

Wait a minute…that same smile is spreading on his lips too! We lose control. Not in anger, but in absolute hysterics at our absurd predicament. People giggle as they pass us. The shop assistants race around with tiny brooms and buckets. And we just laugh and laugh and laugh. What else can we do?

Today in the shops, our camel’s back didn’t break and our boat didn’t sink. Why? Because we realised there is so much in life we can’t control. Our bag of beans reminded us that sometimes the only thing we can do is have a good laugh.

I have this Friend…

…He’s all about perspective and seeing the bigger picture. When I’m tempted to get dragged down by all the little annoyances in my life, He reminds me that it’s really not that bad and there’s not much I can do about it anyway. There are many things in life I can control…

…and even more that I cannot.

See for yourself in Proverbs 17:22, Nehemiah 8:10, Philippians 4:6.

By Aubrey Bayliss