Last week The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage had another one of her girl days with our daughter and granddaughter.
Don’t let this get around, but it is one of my favorite days of the year, including my birthday. It’s a day on which I can do what I want to do. That doesn’t come often; when it does, I cherish it and celebrate with an Apple Fritter, or two, or…
Of course, I had some work to do in my office, so I was rather happy to be alone for the day. Nothing is more important to me than getting my work done.
I planned to catch up on several writing projects in the morning. Getting behind in a project is easy, so setting aside time just to catch up is wonderful.
I kissed The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage goodbye, got a hot cup of coffee from the kitchen, and went to my office to begin the day’s work. I was almost singing as I was getting to my desk. I’m not allowed to sing aloud when The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage is home. If you heard me sing, you would understand.
I was getting started, and suddenly realized there was a problem with the Internet and that my computer was not working. I fiddled with it for about 20 minutes and then realized there was nothing I could do but wait for the Internet to return. (Grrr)
Being a little frustrated, I didn’t quite know what to do, and then remembered I had something to pick up across town. I don’t like driving across town because there are so many idiots with licenses who are driving. How these people get driver’s licenses is beyond my curiosity.
I wanted to get there and back as quickly as possible, thinking I could take advantage of this time.
I was becoming frustrated because every traffic light was red. I had to drive and then stop, drive another two blocks, and then stop. I was getting irritated by this kind of nonsense. I was trying to take advantage of my time to get across town and back home.
Have you ever been tempted? At one of the red lights there was no traffic coming or going, and not even any cars behind me. I sat there for three seconds, and then I was tempted to drive across the highway despite the red light. After all, there’s no harm if there’s nobody on the street and I won’t get caught.
The thought danced in my head as I was about to do that. There is around here somewhere a police officer watching me, and as soon as I cross the line, he’s going to pull me over and give me a ticket. Believe it or not, it would not be a ticket for the Policeman’s Ball.
I was reminded of a hymn we sing in church: “Yield not to temptation for yielding is sin.”
Although frustrated, I sat there and waited for the light to turn green, not yielding to temptation.
This was my routine across town.
As I was coming back, I noticed it was lunchtime. This would be a great time to stop at one of my favorite restaurants and have lunch.
When I entered the restaurant, the host seated me at my favorite table. I’ve been to this restaurant often, so they knew me.
My waitress came, introduced herself, and handed me the menu. Being such a faithful customer I really did not need a menu because I knew what I wanted. I cheerfully gave the waitress my order and then she brought me some coffee as I waited for my order.
I sipped my coffee rather cheerfully and was finally happy that things were going my way. What a day it had been, but now, things will start going my way at my favorite restaurant.
I don’t always experience this, but today, I’m going to celebrate that it is finally happening to me.
I was sitting there drinking my coffee and anticipating my cheeseburger and fries lunch when the waitress came and put a plate on my table in front of me.
When I saw that plate, I gasped in horror. I’ve never seen such a terrible plate of food in my life.
How can my day get any worse?
In the center of that plate before me was some of the worst vegetables I’ve ever seen—broccoli. The fact that this waitress brought me a plate with broccoli made me realize my day was not improving yet.
While I was gasping, the waitress turned around, started gasping, and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. That’s not your plate; that’s for the table on the other side of you.”
Finally, my real plate came, and as I ate, I thought of what a snarky day this has been. What is going to happen between now and when I get home?
Where are my Apple Fritters when I need them?
As I was driving home I was reminded of of a verse of Scripture. “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly” (Proverbs 14:29).
One of the great challenges for me is patience. I can be patient when everything is going my way, but that is not patience. I need to practice the “slow to wrath” part of my life.