A Little Perspective, Please

Josh told me that the refrigerator repairman will probably be coming out to make a housecall. I am relieved that our house is clean. Well, it is acceptable to have human beings enter in. The reason it is clean is because last night Josh called to let me know he was bringing people to this house in 30 minutes. I cannot even begin to tell you the thoughts I had or the names I called people as I jumped into action. Not only did I only have 30 minutes to whip this house into shape as I had been gone all day and not gotten a stinkin' thing accomplished here, but it was also bedtime and that is an event in itself around here. Adding to my super mood, our refrigerator is dying. It has gone from an annoying noise every few minutes that sounds like a cell phone vibrating to a constant noise that is driving me crazy and all of our food is going bad. So, in other words, Josh was bringing company to our house for supper and our house was trashed and we had no food to feed them. To top it off, Josh had the jeep getting the brakes fixed and so I didn't even have a way to run get something to eat and it wouldn't matter b/c around here there is nowhere to go that you could get there and back in 30 minutes. Are you feeling my frustration here??

Well, our friends decided it was too late last night and we have rescheduled. I will make a point to write in my calendar "clean the house, cook food, put on a smile and get in a better mood!!!" I really am ashamed at how I reacted last night. And I don't just mean that I totally put dirty dishes in the oven b/c the dishwasher was full and I could not find my dishsoap because Josh had left it outside after he washed the jeep. I am ashamed that I let myself get so upset and stressed out. I am ashamed that I stink so much at hospitality and that I don't have my house ready for guests at all times. I am ashamed that Eli asked me to pray with him before bed and by the time I got through throwing laundry in the washing machine, vacuuming the living room and bleaching the kitchen counters that he had already fallen asleep without me praying with him. :(

The good news is that the sun came out this morning, Eli still loves me, and the house is clean. (Um, will somebody remind me to get those dishes out of my oven?) Anyway, I was reminded this morning of a verse in Matthew chapter 6. Verse 34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own troubles." Can I get a Amen? Each day surely does have enough of its own issues. As I have shared I am planning our high school class reunion and it is happening this weekend. Please do not ask why I thought it would be a good idea for me to do so. I am pretty much the worst event planner known to mankind. Well, I am having a hard time reaching the lady at the restaurant where we are having our dinner. (And by hard time reaching her I mean I haven't heard from her in over a week despite obsessive, stalker phone messages that I have left her.) The reality of the whole event has also hit me and the fact that I have never done this and oh my gosh how many things could wrong? Will people have fun? Are we doing too much? Not enough? Will this be the worst class reunion ever becasue if it is it will be all my fault!!!!! Okay, let's all breathe.....

Why am I sharing all of this with you? Well, for one I can't afford therapy right now. :) And two, I feel that there is a lesson to be learned here. You see, usually when I have times like this I try to think about the starving, homeless people around the world. The abused, unloved people. I try to put my circumstances in the light of the big picture. Of course, I know that dying refrigerators, messed up brakes, and class reunions do not even register on the scale of what many people would consider problems. Wow, I am blessed just to have a refrigerator, a vehicle and a group of people to reunite.

At the same time, I feel like God is also teaching me that the trials in my life are there because they are the ones I need. Because they are the trials that will grow me the most. The truth is, I can handle a crisis like you would not believe. I am the person you want with you in the ER or at the funeral home. Those are the moments when I am at my best. It's as if I was designed especially for crisis control. In fact, if I did not have a family to take care of I woud be convinced that I was meant to be a trauma counselor for the Red Cross. I don't say that bragging. I just have recognized that for some weird reason I am able to handle death, natural disasters, and all sorts of other events with total grace and clarity. On the other hand, ask me to keep my house clean and plan a meal for people and it sends me into orbit!!! Are you kidding me? I can get a call to comfort someone who is dying and that does not stress me out, but dirty clothes piled up behind the kid's beds throw me into screaming rages that probably scare our neighbors down the street into cleaning their rooms.

So, this is a time when I am learning. Learning that the little frustrations of life (especially when they all pile up on each other like the laundry in our hallway) are what force me to grow. When I am crying out "God, will it ever end??", He has a bigger plan. 2 Corinthians 4:17 assures us, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are unseen are eternal."

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing since you are human you are also facing trials and frustrations whether they be big or small. I will admit this: I failed my test last night BIG TIME. But God's mercies are new everyday and I'm taking advice from James today. James says,
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
James 1:2-4

I also want to share a story I just read. The truth is I'm borrowing it from a message Josh is sharing tonight at a memorial service for the Hospice company we both worked for. I know I'm a little biased, but my man is awesome. I would nominate him for President except for the fact that would make me the First Lady, and heaven help us all if I had to plan White House dinners!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, here is the story.

In Northern Chile, between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, there is a narrow strip of land where the sun shines everyday. Clouds gather so seldom over this area, that nearby residents can proclaim with honesty, "It never rains there!" Morning after morning, the sun rises brilliantly over the mountains in the east. It looms high overhead, and then falls to paint a picturesque sunset. Storm clouds are often seen high up on the mountains, and thick fog banks hang their clouds far over the sea, but still the sun continues to shine her warm rays on this "favored " strip of earthly territory. In our minds, we might envision this strip to be an absolute earthly paradise, but it is far from that! It is a barren and desolate wilderness. There are no sparkling streams of water-and nothing grows there.

Often in our lives, we look for an existence free from the storms. We long for lives of total sunshine where tears do not fill our eyes. But like that sunny unfertile land in chile, lives without trials and storms are unproductive and unchallenging.

I hope this has encouraged you. I have learned that the repairman is not coming and we will in fact be having a memorial service for the refrigerator. It seems the way to keep people from stopping by our house it to clean it up. :)