On Tuesday I managed to pull myself out of bed and made it to our office to have my quiet time, yay! This particular morning, I had a lot to do. I had to drop my daughter off at school, drop my son off at my mom’s house and then drive to downtown Phoenix for a Girl Scout leader training by 9:30 AM. I knew that although I had a lot going on, the investment of my time with God would be well worth it. In fact, it’s in those times of busyness and extra responsibility that I need God the most!
This year, my ritual has been to read the day’s devotion from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young with appropriate verses and then I read two chapters of the Bible. Right now I’m in Matthew. But as I was flipping through the pages, I spotted a memory verse that Lila and I had worked on a few months ago:
“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”
– Philippians 2:14-15
I did my reading and praying and headed to the kitchen to start on breakfast. As I stepped onto the kitchen tile, I noticed that our dog had an accident in the middle of the night and he left a trail of poo all around our kitchen, mostly on the tile, but there were also some spots on the carpet. Yuck! So, I pulled out the Clorox wipes and paper towels and went to work.
So often when my soul is parched for God’s Word and time with Him, I behave out of my flesh and react or overreact in a way that I shouldn’t, mostly over things that are pretty small in the overall scheme of life.
But because I had spent time with God this morning, I didn’t get mad; I just knew I needed to get the job done so that I could move along with the day. I remembered Philippians 2:14-15 that I had just read moments earlier. I also remembered a huge take away from Lysa TerKeurst’s book Unglued, where she says, “If this is the worst thing that happens to me today, it’s still a pretty good day.”
I recited that in my head and realized how this was truly nothing to complain about, it was just an inconvenience to work through.
I love how spending time with God gives me the perspective I need at just the right time. So, I cleaned the poo and kept my cool.
I hope you’re having a great week!
