Make Room for the Unexpected

I am home from a self-inflicted, bad-attitude-laden afternoon.  After all is said and done, it was an afternoon where much was accomplished.  If I had just stopped and smelled the roses I would have been having a good time; instead I pushed my way through and had to confess my sin of murmuring to the Lord.  I am so glad that He forgives me.

I returned from my morning job, a free afternoon before me.  When I got up to my mom's, seated in the rocker on the porch, she said, "I wonder if I have any more of that material" (one side of her cushion for the porch swing got ruined, while the other side is in fine shape).  I told her that I'd go upstairs and check; that started a chain of events which led to all my problems.  We found some beautiful contrasting material with a floral print.  First of all, her sewing machine would not work correctly, tensions were off (that always starts my tensions up!);  I said that I'd go down to my house and get my portable sewing machine.  When I reached home, I said aloud, "I really don't want to do this today!"  That was the beginning of the end.  We set the machine up on her lovely back porch, in the shade, where there was a delicious breeze wafting past.  All our work was done outdoors and it's a truly beautiful day.  The pins I chose were WAY too skinny and flimsy for this thick upholstery material, so they not only killed my fingertips when I tried to push them in, most of them bent!  They were doing that on purpose!  We ended up having to piece a spot because the cloth had been cut strangely on its last project.  It was especially thick material going onto an already-thick pad, so every so often my bobbin thread would ball up; Everything was against me!!  While I fumed my way through the project, the wind was blowing over my clothes rack, over and over again.  Each time, Mom would patiently go over and stand it back up, turning it, so the wind wouldn't take it down again.  At one point while the machine was balling up and the clothes rack was going over, Mom and I just laughed and laughed!

The project turned out beautifully.  She is so pleased with her new porch swing cover.  When we sat down to enjoy a sandwich, the breeze cooling my raw nerves, I told the Lord how sorry I was for my murmuring spirit.  It brought back the thoughts that I was jotting down this past Sunday.  "When something unexpected comes up in our lives, to upset our well-laid plans, make room for it.  Move over and know that this unexpected thing can be used in both my life and in the life of the other individual, bringing glory to Christ's name.  Life is an adventure--may I allow the unexpected to pop up around any corner.  May I not order everything so rigidly that I miss being a blessing first to God, then to someone else.  The Bible says that, "all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are the called according to His purpose."

Those are wonderful words and lofty thoughts.  Even when I wrote them on Sunday, the Lord knew that I would be tested in that very area this week.  He uses testings and temptations to work patience in us; then patience works experience.  I hope that I will look back on this day as a learning experience.

Remember to make room for the unexpected in the days to come.