Grace at the "Happiest Place on Earth"

A week and a half ago, we did a whirlwind road trip to California. Mr Toddlerwhisperer was playing a gig out in Newport Beach, so we decided to make a little trip of it. We got to play at the beach, go thrifting, visit with family, and no trip to SoCal with a four and five year old would be complete without a trip to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland!

A quick snap of the drumming Mickey parade

waiting for their first rollercoaster ride in Toon Town

What I was impressed with most by DLand was the fact that every single cast member who worked there was SO nice. Genuinely sweet, kind and full of grace.  You know they deal with thousands of people there each day, some with attitude, some cutting in lines, some hot and whiney, and others who don't even speak English...

Day in and day out, they receive the same questions...hundreds of times a day.."which way is the bathroom?" "where's the best place to eat?" "how do I get to space mountain?" "can i take a picture with you?" and every time they answer, they make the person asking feel like they are the only person who has ever asked that particular question.

We arrived, and I had seen on pinterest how parents use sharpies to write contact info on their children in large crowds...and I had forgotten my sharpie, so we went into a shop on mainstreet and asked one of the ladies if I could borrow one of theirs. They quickly found a permanent marker, and giggled the whole time Daddy wrote his cell number on his little ones' tummies.

We asked a churro vendor which way to the restrooms, and he cheerfully passed on the information.

And, we waited in line for like five minutes for our precious girl to meet Snow White. While waiting, the people in front of us were from an Asian country, and every single one of them wanted a picture with her. Just when she thought she was finished, she would have another one of the party stand next to her for a picture. And every time, she posed exactly the same, kept the same sweet face and smiled.  As our daughter approached for her turn, someone cut from the side, and Snow quickly and in character said, "There's a line for me over there, if you would like to take a turn" them posed so sweetly with my tired little lady.

While the Magic Kingdom was most definitely a wonderful place to visit, here in the real world we come into these same situations in our workplace, at the line in the grocery store, in traffic, with our children...and what pours out from our hearts? Is it love? Is it joy? Is it patience? Galatians 5:22 gives us the list of what should pour from our hearts to reflect that the Spirit of Christ dwells within us. (But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness)

If literally every person who worked for Disney at the park on Sunday can do it, we, certainly as Believers can strive to live by the Spirit, being an extension of the Grace Christ showed us to others. Galatians 5:16 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Let's make our homes and our circles of influence the happiest places on earth!

This post is a link up over on Gracelaced for Gracelaced Mondays. You should check out the other links!