Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Interruptions or God's Gifts to Me?

We were talking in Bible study today about how people so often come into our lives wanting something while we are in the middle of something else. We looked at how Jesus dealt with interruptions. We found that He usually, but not always, stopped what He was doing to meet other peoples' needs. The study suggested that we try tabulating our interruptions during a typical day and evaluate them, even suggesting that these very interruptions might not be interruptions at all, but "God appointments" with the folks who people our world. So I did. I tracked the interruptions of my day.

Before we were even done examining this thought, I had to leave Bible study a half hour early to go back home to pick up  Paul so that we could go to the 11am Lenten services together. When we got done with church I got a call from work asking if I could work on Friday (I can). Then we talked with a member of our congregation whose husband is struggling with cancer and all the attendant health issues that can surround that struggle as well as the sad fact that they are losing their house because the medical bills overwhelmed  their ability to pay all their other bills (like the mortgage), and they don't know where they are going to live when the bank takes over their house which is already in foreclosure.

When we got home I made sure to call my daughter, Paula, to let her know that the new bedspread came and to send her a photo. While doing that I found a message asking me to call  another daughter, Sarah, about a granddaughter that had minor surgery today, and to make sure that I was planning to pick up my grandson, Bradley, from school.

After that call, daughter Paula called back and we talked until I had to leave to pick Bradley up from school, and when I dropped him off Sarah needed to talk about the surgery, so I stayed awhile to visit with her.

As I headed home I stopped for groceries, and when I got home I unpacked them and fixed supper for Paul, and then took a call from my friend, Barb, about a meeting I couldn't make tonight, and then talked with son, Marcus, for awhile on the phone, which has lead to this entry, because I am finally not being interrupted.

And then it occurred to me, those were not interruptions. This is my life. Under what circumstances could  my husband and my church friends, and my dear children possibly be labeled as interruptions? That would happen only when I pursue the self-centered life of an egotist who thinks that her needs and interests and pursuits are the only important things in the world.

Were these God appointments, or God's gifts to me? Whatever they were, they made my day a blessed one!



No comments: