Its all in the decisions
December 2, 2009 by Marci
Don’t you love it when God tests you? To see what you are made of? To see if you can practice what you preach? Me? Not so much. I would rather go thru life unencumbered by life’s problems and trials. Wouldn’t we all? This week was going so smoothly. We had a great anniversary. Homeschool has been really fun for all of us. The kids are learning about making good decisions. The Christmas decorations are up. The house looks so nice. And then….the test.
At 10:30 last night, I remembered that it was my turn to take treats to our mom’s group meeting today at 9 am! I realize, this is a little thing and not some huge trauma. But, how many little things do make much larger than they actually are? At first, I ran to the kitchen and looked in the cabinet, like a coffee cake or breakfast casserole would magically appear. I started to panic. Should I run to the store right now. I knew I would probably have no time in the morning, since I usually wake my 4 year old up to leave and I am not taking him to the grocery store right out of bed!!! Now, there’s trauma!
As I stood there in the kitchen, the house was quiet and peaceful. The Christmas lights were still on. I knew I had a decision to make. I could panic and stress, not sleep and drag the whole family into my self-inflicted chaos or I could calm down and really think about what was going on. The problem here was not that I couldn’t make a coffee cake in the morning. The problem was that I wanted to make something fancy and have fruit and little Christmasy things to go with my treats. And, I didn’t want to get up earlier than usual to make the coffee cake! Was all that necessary? No? But, those are the things that stress lots of us out. The unnecessary things.
And here is where I realized that God has a sense of humor….the book we are studying in our mom’s group? Being Mary In A Martha World!!! HA!!! Good one God!! What sweet irony!
The coffee cake will be good. I can smell it in the oven now! The fellowship will be better. I had a choice. I could worry about the details or I could look forward to what’s most important.
Do you ever let the details cloud your vision of the important stuff?
Comments (5)
good word! I’m being tested in patience today for SURE! Everything that I’ve had planned has seriously taken DOUBLE the time. So far, I’ve just rolled with the punches – we’ll see what the rest of the day holds.
[...] It’s all in the decisions [...]
In one of my groups we are reading… Having a Mary Spirit….
okay, sometimes you are in my brain! I am so like this…well most of the time. I just realized that most others don’t expect me to be a “martha”, but rather, just be me. “Trying” to be a “martha” actually turns others off…just realized this too.
Thanks for letting me know that there is someone else out there who feels the same.
We did that book study last year with some women at church. So great. I am still reading thru the archives. I am praying that your words reach one of my girlfriends who is soooo “busy.” I want to help her, but my words keep coming out as bossy and harsh. Your message could be life changing for her. I am going to keep reading and trying to follow Christ’s example. Thanks for sharing from your experience. You have no idea how timely this has been for me.