Control Relinquished

This morning I pulled into Wal-Mart and as I parked, I heard a very loud, ringing bell. The sound seemed similar to that of a fire alarm, so my eyes scanned the area for unusual activity. I saw nothing abnormal, so I proceeded into the store. I expected to see or hear chaos or receive some sort of acknowledgment or explanation for the disruption. Instead, I was greeted by normal activity. In fact, everything seemed so normal that I began to wonder if I was the only one who could hear the obnoxiously loud bell ringing from the entrance! Isn't that how the messiness of life is? We have the obnoxious, blatant reminders of our shortcomings blowing up in our faces and yet we somehow seem to tune it out, ignore it, and continue on as normal. I'm talking about our misbehaving children, a difficult diagnosis, a crumbling marriage, financial pressures, discontentment, jealousy, rage. We hide it all too well. Our insides are falling apart, but we plaster on that smile and say al