Christian Living

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I got myself a carton of flavoured milk to drink on the way home. It was vanilla flavoured, which in my opinion, is just the best taste a person could get. Not too sweet, not too strong but just so 'yum'!

So after a day of errands and shopping in town, with the children in the back seat of the car, I was ready to treat myself and restore some flagging energy.

I guess I should say right now that drinking and driving is not a good thing. I even believe it could be illegal, particularly if the drink has been left to ferment in the sun for too long.

But this was a carton of flavoured milk and I didn’t think it would be very difficult to handle while keeping one hand firmly on the wheel. It was one of those thickened drinks where you have to shake it for about 24 minutes to get a really good bubble colony going inside. Then once your arm goes numb you try shaking on the other side.

Being a ‘road-safety-aware’ sort of a girl I made sure I’d done all the shaking before I left the shopping centre car-park. I drove off, however, with just one teeny little task of opening the spout. I pulled the wings open on the carton and then applied pressure to the edges to make the pouring spout pop out. I’d done it thousands of times before, as I sure you have too.

Only this time, the spout didn’t pop out. The cardboard stayed firmly glued shut. I tried again, three fingers gripping the wheel, my thumb and forefinger grappling with the carton I held in the other hand. It refused to open the way it should have and I was forced to pry the cardboard open, pulling at the centre of the crease, manoeuvring to get my finger inside the carton. I finally prised the cardboard lip from the rest of the carton, ending up with a crumpled, flimsy excuse for a spout to drink from.

This became soggy and even more delicate as I put my mouth to it and drank. Mildly frustrating, it seemed to be just one more annoyance to deal with at the end of my day.

Then I drove past the Anglican church with its billboard out the front. The slogan read, “Life is fragile. Handle with prayer.”

I was gob-smacked. I saw the profound application to my life, from its petty grievances with milk cartons to all the other worries and dramas I have to contend with. When it all comes down to it, yes, I agree – life is fragile. And when I let the Expert take care of it, I know I’m able to feel a lot more secure.

I was able to drink my frothy vanilla milk and enjoy it – a little luxury in my life. Life is uncertain, so enjoy all the little blessings you can get.

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“Go ahead –eat your food and be happy; drink your wine and be cheerful. It’s all right with God.” – Ecclesiastes 9:7 (Good News Bible)

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