Have you ever noticed that humans seem to want to be in control of things? Sort of made me chuckle a little when I wondered if it was just a woman trait, though I guess only the guys can really answer that question. But seriously, I bet we all could learn some things about loosening up a little.

A few weeks ago I walked into the living room and saw “The Game of Life” board game on the floor with the lid off. All the paper play money was scattered about in the lid in a complete mess. For some people, that is no problem whatsoever, it is a game, that’s what happens. However, to others, that paper play money should be neatly organized! They made those slots for a reason. So, I stood there looking at that lid, when suddenly it dawned on me to do a little experiment.

I sat on the floor and sorted out all that paper play money and put it into individual stacks. This took like twenty minutes. There, done. Nice and neat. Good for a photograph.

Next was the experiment of letting go of control. I put my hands under all those fake bills and threw the piles into the air! We had paper play money flying everywhere! I cannot even explain how absolutely freeing that was. And, fun! We giggled our tails off!

It is my tendency to try to find the lesson in everything. This experiment kind of hit home for me because it seems like as mommas, as parents, as people in general, we get so busy. We multitask. We have schedules to keep and things to do. We have to be here and we have to be there. Even to the point that things have to be perfectly timed. I mean, there’s work and travel and appointments and education and sports and activities… the lists are long. All of us are definitely busy. I get that and that’s fine.

But for me, I learned some things that are quite substantial in my experiment with the paper play money:

1. It is ok to shake things up a bit!
2. It is downright fun to laugh a lot!
3. It is even fun to make a mess!

Messes clean up. Do you think that paper play money went back in the box in neat stacks? Heck no! It is stuffed back in the lid like I found it that day. And, thinking about the game sitting on the shelf in the game closet, makes me smile.