Approach With Caution!
Do you ever suffer a serious case of stubborn self-sufficiency? How about arrogance? Judgmentalism? Smug conceit? Ugly qualities, but I have to admit, I ran them all today.
It all started when I lost my car keys. Also, my new barrettes (still in the package), two socks (not a pair), and my ultimately my temper. It wasn’t a world class Rumpelstiltskin snit; it was a slow-burning internal sizzle.
Do you do that? Pretend it’s all good, but fume inside?
I was snippy because I don’t lose things. I just don’t. I’m organized. I’m tidy. I put things away. It’s fair to say I’m even a little arrogant about my superior system for organized tidiness. There is a place for everything and everything should be in its place! But today I cannot find my things.
Where are my KEYS!!!!! Ugh.
After I turned the house upside down looking, I decided to pray. I had come to the end of myself. My best organizing and retrieval system had failed me.
My prayer was bold! “GOD, WHERE ARE MY KEYS?” I demanded of heaven.
Honestly, by that point, my pride was in overdrive and I didn’t care as much about finding my keys as I did about not wanting to admit that I’d lost them. As the day wore on without any results or answers, I started grumbling. And worrying.
Am I losing my mind? Alzheimer’s runs in my family. Is this how is starts? I mentally tested myself. I could remember the names and birthdates of my children and all my husbands. Probably not Alzheimer’s after all.
Finally, I asked Dave, (Mr. 4-Ever), if he would help me. “Sure,” he said good naturedly – completely ignoring my testiness. Within minutes he produced my keys. “What?” “How did…” “Where were they?” I asked incredulously.
“In your purse.”
“But, I looked in my purse!”
“Well,” he said, “I asked God where your keys were, and he said to look in your purse, so I did, and there they were.”
Here’s the moral to this story.
When you storm heaven’s gates, make sure your motives are pure. Don’t be a fusspot! I was so bent on proving my system of organizing that my pride got in the way of a solution. I’d been so busy fussing, squawking, grumbling and worrying that I could hardly think, much less come to the Lord humbly or quiet enough to hear God’s still small voice.
Friend, I still don’t know where the new barrettes and socks are, but my keys and my calm have been restored.
How about you? Do you get yourself into such a snit that you can’t hear from God? When you pray for answers, for solutions, for direction, for guidance, approach boldly but with humility.
Calm yourself.
Take a breath.
Ask for what you need, then listen intently.
God has all the answers you need.
Col. 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Prayer: God, do I amuse you with my efforts to try to make my life work without considering you? Do I hurt you when I’m so rattled that I can’t hear you? I know that your systems are dependable. I know that your love will always redeem. Thanks for the reminder and the fresh start as often as I need it. Amen.