Most people pucker up before they kiss, but not all lip puckers are for kissing. Some people use it as a term for dealing with something unpleasant as in the expression. “Pucker up buttercup.”

I saw this first hand a few years ago.

As a mother, I was always on guard for anything that could possibly hurt my child. While I was still carrying Sara, I watched everything that I ate and drank. When she was a little baby, I was very particular about anything or anyone that came into contact with her. As soon as she began to crawl, I took action in our house. I placed plastic plugs in all of our outlets. I moved all the cleaning chemicals up and out of her reach. I placed gates across the stairs and some doorways. I even put door guards on all the cabinet doors.

I thought I had it all covered, but one day, I missed something.

My husband Tim loves to grill. At our old house, the grill wasn’t too far from our back door. Next to the door was a small table.

This one evening, Tim was grilling hot dogs. I had the small table filled with mustard, onion, chili, and chips. Sara was a little over a year old at this time. I set her in her high chair and pushed her up next to the table. I made sure there were not any utensils lying within her grasps. Or so I thought.

I stepped outside to tell Tim something. It only took a few seconds. When I stepped back in, my heart went into my throat. Sara’s face was pink and scrunched in. Her mouth was puckered-up so much that I couldn’t see much of her lips. Her eyes were closed and she was shaking all over. Still tightly grasped in her right hand was a table spoon. A clean tablespoon.

I glanced over the table and realized the mustard jar no longer had a spoon sitting in it. Yep, in those few seconds I had stepped outside, she had been able to reach and take the spoon out of the mustard jar. Then she put it in her mouth and cleaned it in one fell swoop. I’m talking there wasn’t a drop of mustard anywhere on it.

Sara was in a state of mustard shock.

The next few seconds were in slow motion for me. It felt as if I couldn’t get to her sippy cup fast enough. As soon as I grasped it, I tried to get it into her mouth, but she was so puckered up that she literally could not open her mouth.

After wriggling the little spout around, I managed to get some juice into her mouth. After a few more sips, she was able to “unpucker” her mouth. To her credit, she didn’t cry and/or get upset. She just drank all of her juice.

You know, I don’t think I breathed until I was able to get her mouth open enough for her to drink her juice. That’s when I began to feel like a bad mother. I had done my best to ensure Sara’s safety, but I hadn’t thought about the horrors of mustard.

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34 (KJV)

I was so worried about the possible threats that could happen in the future, that I overlooked the one that was right in front of me and, unfortunately, Sara. Isn’t that usually the way it goes? What we worry about doesn’t happen, but something unforeseen by us does?

So, keep your eyes not on tomorrow or its possibilities, but on today and the Lord.

By the way, Sara still eats mustard and doesn’t even remember that day, but I will never forget it. Although, mustard in my house is in a squeeze bottle with warning labels.