It was all going so well. The book bag and backpack were stocked and laid out the night before. Spring coats were put on the coat pegs to replace the winter ones and a summer dress and shorts were ready instead of my children’s winter uniforms.

In the morning, everything went smoothly. I was in superwoman mode sewing on a button for my daughter’s cardigan, getting a plaster ready for my son’s sore finger, and cooking a quick omelette for my husband’s lunch. With teeth brushed, sun cream applied, and shoes on, we were about to leave for school right on time. Without a second glance, I picked up their bags, coats, and lunchboxes that I so neatly had placed out the night before in organised fashion and drove to school.

We were two minutes from parking up near the children’s school when my motherly panic mode kicked in…. the beautifully decorated Easter bonnets that the kids needed to bring for TODAY’s parade were sitting on the kitchen table! Ahhhh!

In a split second I chose to drive home to get those cute but annoying Easter bonnets! Maybe if we hurried we might just make it home and back before the last school bell. As we queued in the steadily increasing traffic, I tried really hard to not explode at my daughter, who unknowingly mixed up my organisation by moving the Easter bonnets to show them off to her daddy. I didn’t completely keep calm, but I was able to chat to her without my talking words turning into actual yelling words.

It was incredibly tight on time, but both children made it to the school gate with all their belongings AND wearing their Easter bonnets on time! A sigh of relief was let out as I walked back to the car. We had made it!

Isn’t that just how life goes sometimes? We don’t purposefully invite these situations to come to us, yet ‘things happen’ and we have to think quickly and try to react the best way possible. For how organised I’d been, I couldn’t have factored in my daughter moving the bonnets minutes before leaving!

Besides chuckling a bit, now that the panicked situation is over, I cannot help but think that there are a few life lessons in those two Easter bonnets:

Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Firstly, I was reminded that for all the planning I can do, God’s still in charge and my ways simply won’t always happen how I plan them. However, if God is establishing my steps, then He can help correct my course and provide added grace (2 Corinthians 12:9) as well as resilience when things don’t go to plan. God will not leave me nor forsake me. (Joshua 1:5)

Secondly, we all need a reminder that “we are worth it.” Regardless of potentially being late getting to school, my children needed to know that I support them wholeheartedly and that they were worth the extra effort to get home for the Easter bonnets and back. I love them so much and I was willing to try my best to ensure they started their day off well with everything that was needed. And don’t we adults need that reminder too sometimes? We need to remember that we are valuable to God. Through Jesus’s Easter sacrifice, God reminds us that we are worth it, because He loves all people and will go to any length to save us.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16