One Button

“Hurry with your answer, God! I’m nearly at the end of my rope. Don’t turn away; don’t ignore me! That would be certain death. If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I’ll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel; I’m all ears, all eyes before you. Save me from my enemies, God— you’re my only hope! Teach me how to live to please you, because you’re my God. Lead me by your blessed Spirit into cleared and level pasture land.” Psalm 143:10 MSG

Life can be so frustrating some times and often it is the little things which bog us down the most.  The slow car in front of us.  Having to stop at every street light on our way to work.  The person who does not have enough money at the grocery store and has to put things back when we only have two items to pay for.  Our cell phone is not working properly.  The internet sever we are using is too slow.  The kids not ready fast enough int he morning.  I could list several things that just get under our skin on a daily basis.  Ever stop to think for one moment, God might be using the little things to make BIG changes in our personalities?

At some point in time we have to stop the nonsense and learn the lesson.  Stopping ourselves long enough to see there is a problem is the real issue.  The next time you are the grocery store, watch the people around you.  What are their reactions to things?  How many sighs, strange annoyed looks and complaining comments are taking place?  Now take it a step further and see it from God’s perspective.  What is He seeing in His people?  Now deeper still, this one may touch home a little harder, is that how you react too?  Is this the way you and I want others to see us?  I personally can be the “Great Overacter” when things are just not right.  Now I am by no means a perfectionist, just ask my kids, however when things are frustrating me I really lose it sometimes.

At work, I have decided that when the pressure is on, I will be calm instead of increasing the pressure on my fellow crew members.  I am trying harder to be compassionate and understanding; every one works at a different level and may not have the same energy about the job as I do.  It seems to be working and people are noticing.  Now, I need to move that lesson learned into my private life as well.  After all, even though your family loves you and accepts you for who you are, it does not mean we can’t make a conscience effort to correct our flaws.

A perfect example of my over-reacting is as follows.  One day my van stops displaying the time on the radio.  May not seem like a big issue, however to me it was important.  It’s hard to check the time on your phone, as well as dangerous, when you are driving.  I am usually running a tad bit behind and I just NEED to know what time it is.  So for two months now we have been without the time displayed in the van.  I was just beginning to accept it until today when I had this freakout panic attack about not being able to see the time.  Not only was  I frustrated but it also irritated my daughter because she just did not understand why I was so frustrated.  To be honest, I am not sure why it bothered me so much.  Maybe it was because so many other things in my life over the years had been broken and I just wanted this one thing to work.

As usual, being like her mother, my daughter tries to fix the situation.  Low and behold it was one button that changed everything.  All this time the solution to problem was right in front of us, we just had overlooked it and thought it had just become a non-working element in the van.  Wow!  One button?  How can we relate this to God?  How many times have we cried out wanting God to fix something for us and gotten frustrated about it, only to realize He had already provided for us in some way?  God does not wish this life to have difficulties, however through these we grow and increase our dependance on Him.  There truly was an “Easy Button” today to fix the clock in the van and I am positive there are others surrounding me that I just have not discovered yet.  Answers to those questions I feel God had just been ignoring, I am not looking in the right place.

God did not promise us an easy road, but He provides for us sometimes in ways we just cannot see until we surrender it to Him in frustration.  The more this happens in our lives the more we begin to realize we don’t need to freak out about things for we can be assured He has the provision or the answer already in motion.  How many things can we change in our lives right now if we would stop lashing out and just look for that one button that can change it all?  Stop for a moment when things frustrate you and look for the God lesson in it.  Evaluate your life and see what changes need to be made so you can prevent this frustration from happening again. I guarantee you will see a change in less than a month, it worked for me at work and I am certain it will prove to be the same in my home life.