Please Rescue My Day!
Posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009
Out of Control?
Ever had one of those days that you suddenly lost control of?
If your days are like Judy’s, and mine, it doesn’t take much to send them into a tailspin. Like you, we get up every morning with a lot more on our schedule than we could possibly accomplish—even if everything went just right, just as we planned it. Our days are so packed there isn’t much margin for error. And then…
• As you’re speeding to work for your first task, late already, you decide to chance the Starbucks drive through window. The line’s too long, six cars in front of you, but you need your caffeine jolt. As you finally place your order, your car goes dead. Nothing. The guy behind you, who’s also late and probably shouldn’t have pulled into the same line you did, lays on his horn as you try to find your insurance card to call the tow truck.
• Just when the day seems to be coming together and you’re beginning to think that you might even make all of your commitments, the school nurse calls. “His temperature is soaring. You’ll need to come get him immediately.” “It’s a good thing I have our pediatrician on speed dial and that she knows my child well enough to prescribe medicine over the phone” you think as you mentally rearrange your day. But it’s not a good thing that your pediatrician’s answering service picked up the call to tell you the doctor is sick, “but here’s the number of a colleague that should be able to work you in sometime today or tomorrow.”
• One of your best friends calls from the airport across town. “Hey, I’m stuck here overnight. Can you come pick me up?”
• “Hi, it’s dad. Uncle Frank just died. The funeral’s Wednesday and I told your grandmother that you would be happy to say something.”
Welcome to Adulthood
One of the maxims of life is that the more adult you become, the more responsibility you take on and the more people depend on you. So, if you’re adult days and weeks are anything like mine, there are so many more responsibilities and more people depending on me than I can possibly do or take care of. So a lot of my days get out of control, and my guess is, so do yours…if you’re a responsible adult.
You know what I do when I’m sitting in that Starbucks line or driving to the airport to pick up a buddy? I hand that adult problem over to Someone more adult than me! Someone who is smarter, more powerful, and more organized than I could possibly be.
His name is Jesus.
My prayer is simple. “Okay, Lord. You’re the God of time and circumstances. There’s no way I can do everything I planned today. But I know that I can do everything that You planned today. Show me exactly what you want me to do next, and I’ll do it.”
And He does!
Then, when I do that, I simply say, “All right, Lord. What next?”
Again, He makes “next” obvious.
At The End of the Day
When the day is finally over, I fall asleep telling Him how thankful I am that He was bigger than my day, that He never loses control of time, and I ask Him to remind me of this the next time my day gets out of my control.
His answer is almost always the same: “Oh Ed, you keep forgetting that your days are always out of your control but never out of mine!”
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).
