Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Delighting in the Unexpected

Yesterday was a day I had been somewhat dreading. It was going to be a day full of activity from morning until night with no breaks. A day when I needed a detailed plan to determine where to be and what to do.

My day started early!! It was planned to the minute. Then, at 6:30 a.m. the phone ring. Who in the world calls at 6:30 am? It was my neighbor asking me to do his family a favor. It was serious enough that I took 30 minutes from my day to help my neighbor. It did not stress me out at all, even though it was not in "my plan for the day".

Before I left for work I was reading from a book entitled "Keep a Quiet Heart" by Elisabeth Elliot and this excerpt just seemed to scream at me, with my to the minute plan for the day. "She delighted in seeing her plan upset by unexpected events, saying that it gave her great comfort, and that she looked on such things as an assurance that God was watching over her stewardship, was securing the accomplishment of His will and working out His own designs"

Delighting in the interruptions...what a concept.

Unfortunately the experience of the morning and the success I experienced at delighting in the unexpected early in the day flew right on out the window in the afternoon hours. I won't go into details, but it was not pretty. It involved a missing purple sock that was the part of the soccer uniform....minutes before we needed to leave to take soccer pics.

And no, the sock never was found. What I did find was intense frustration and agitation in my heart that spewed all over my daughter and everyone else in the house. I can't say I delighted in the unexpected. I can say God used the pressure of the situation to reveal what was in my heart.

Today is a fresh start. Thank God!!

2 comments:

Jen said...

I have had the same experience with the same purple soccer sock! Maybe it's a conspiracy? A plot to destroy our cheerful dispositions. It worked on me. Sad...all it takes is one missing sock:(

Stacie@HobbitDoor said...

Love that book! Thanks for the reminder--esp. to those of us interrupted by lack of power. :)