Practice

God works in our lives. Don’t ever doubt it. And to those who listen closely to Him in spirit, they know He works miracles with everyday objects and situations. This was never more clearly portrayed to me than recently when I asked God to help me with my lack of patience. It could be debated whether I learned the art of impatience as a child, or simply developed this pitiful trait from my own inability to have what I want when I want it.  

I had just put the kids to bed and was trotting downstairs to finish a move that I had been watching; something on TCM from the 1930’s I believe. Little did I know that my recent attempts to work on my patience during that day were about to really go out with a bang. Right as I was about to plop on the couch I decided to run to the bathroom. Instead of going to the powder room (which was the closest one) I made my way to the master bath. I noticed the clean sheets on the bed that were not folded. So I folded them and stacked them neatly on the bed. Then there was my prayer blanket in a mess on the chair. I folded and laid them on the chair back. I thought to brush my teeth so I went to knock that out.

While in the bathroom I walked to the closet and grabbed my work clothes for the next day and went to turn down the bed. I noticed the sheets nicely folded so I went to put them up in the closet. I walked around the other side of the bed and noticed my water glass was empty so, after a short debate, I figured I would go fill it in the kitchen. To my pleasant surprise, the sink was full of dirty dishes. As I washed them off and moved to put them in the washer, I noticed that the grease catch to the griddle was on the counter; full of cold bacon grease. Sigh. After dealing with the catch I walked over to the cabinet to put it up and noticed the coffee maker had not been filled with water yet.

At this point, I tend to make this rational decision that I should leave SOMETHING for my wife “to do.” And seeing my movie still on pause on the TV, I decided to fill the coffee maker. In the end, these annoying things were completed and I sat on the couch about twenty minutes after I expected too. Did it kill me? No. But it did try my patience. And it is likely that my wife never knew any of it transpired. But that’s not the point anyway. At the end of this little test I was reminded that God uses things like this in ways to show He is there to help us work on our issues. And He also sees our performance. Don’t miss an opportunity to see Him at work. He won’t miss your efforts. And He will hold you accountable for how you act in these times.

 

“God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” --- Ecclesiastes 12:14