Estimated reading time: 6 minute(s)
This weekend is a distant blur. I know it’s only Monday, but it seems like things we did just yesterday are several days removed. That’s because we packed it in. My sister was over in Buffalo for a wedding, and visiting family, so we also went to visit. And along with the many plans we made with her family, we had a fun evening with some friends from college (and their families), and the typical family gatherings with all of Jen’s family in the Buffalo area.
It was a great weekend! 🙂
On Sunday night, however, three of our four children were bawling at one point – all for different reasons – but also mostly because of sheer exhaustion. Ian, our oldest, was not crying, but he was growing frustrated with all of the crying. He’s a great helper, though! We got back home sometime after 9pm and proceeded to unload and get everyone ready for and into bed! That was top priority!
As we had finally gotten everyone in their proper night time location, I realized that the evening was only beginning for me. Monday was coming, and there were several things I still needed to do. I wanted to edit and post the latest Buffalo Bills Review that we recorded over the weekend, and I needed to pay our bills (ha! bills!) and I also wanted to send out the photos we had taken from the weekend via email to our family. It was quite a night.
I finished everything up and was in bed by 3:00am. I probably fell asleep by 3:30, and it seemed like about 5 minutes later it was time to get up to feed Julia. About 10am I finally got out of bed, still exhausted from the whole weekend, and went in to the bathroom for a shower. I hoped that would wake me up a bit!
As I was showering, I was processing the day. Thoughts of clients’ projects danced through my head. As I was building my list of to-do’s on my imaginary note pad I actually said outloud, “Well, what do you have for me today, God?” No sooner had those words escaped my lips that I let out an audible belly laugh! My next thought was, “I don’t have time for ‘What God has for me today’!!!” Then I laughed again! How silly… not having time for what God wants for me! That’s not mixed up priorities, is it? 🙂
So, I just smiled as I dried off and got dressed. I couldn’t wait to see what that was all about. What might God actually have for me today?
As the day began, I was going through the weekend’s emails and phone messages, beginning to prepare a list for the day, and I innocently began and instant message conversation with a friend who recently purchased an Intel iMac! I just wondered when the computer might come. From that, we ended up chatting for quite a while about some issues that have been bothering her and her husband for a while. From our own experience, perhaps I was able to share some things that were helpful to them where they are at now. That was cool.
After that I returned a phone call I had received over the weekend from some folks looking to get together with us. They have connected with Wayne Jacobsen, whom we have also connected with, and we have similar paths in life at the moment, so they hoped we could get together. I called them back, but only left a message.
As I continued through emails, I received another call from a friend who needed help with his website. I walked through some stuff with him, trying to trouble shoot the issue… we chatted and worked on that project for oh, half an hour or so? After we hung up I spent a little more time trying to resolve the issue for him still. But I was still trying to get through my emails and other administrivia for the day.
Lunch time… I go downstairs to eat with the family. I am surprisingly relaxed, even though my office day did not start till after 10:30am, and so far, I hadn’t really gotten much of anything done that I had expected to get done. Usually, that ruins my day, but I told Jen the story from the shower, and we both smiled at the change in perspective that it had already brought. Instead of worrying that I was not checking things off of my list, I was grateful to think that God was directing the seemingly “off-topic” events for the day.
After lunch I was able to work on one of the projects for the day. I was solving a little financial puzzle regarding billing issues for one of my client’s web hosting. I finally mostly got it, but needed to discuss it over the phone. So, that phone call finally happened, and there went another 30 minutes or so. Not because of the business issues… those went quickly. They have become my friends too, so we talked about the stuff they have been doing lately – with parents moving in with them and such. Busy! Nice to catch up over the phone.
After that, I had a couple quick business calls, but then our friends whom I mentioned before (whom we have not yet met, but called this weekend to see about getting together) called back. Having much in common, and never having connected before, we spoke for most of an hour perhaps? It was great, and I do look forward to getting to know them more, and sharing our respective journeys sometime in the near future. That was a very cool conversation.
By now, it is evident that the day will turn out very differently than I was planning in the shower, but it was making me smile more and more! I finished up my day in the office with another phone call to my friend with the website trouble. He had somehow fixed it, but didn’t know how. So, we chatted about technical stuff for a while, and also about a visit coming up this fall. Again, very cool.
And just before heading downstairs, I got to chat with some other friends who are dealing with some stressful financial issues at the moment. We are currently doing OK, so I kept thinking of the church described in Acts, where no one was in need because everyone shared everything. I felt like we could do the sharing at the moment, due to God’s financial generosity to us at the moment. So, we talked for a while, about money, and stuff, and how un-American it is to accept help from someone else when paying your bills. We have been mostly on the other side for our adult lives, so I completely understood that feeling. But I am glad we will be able to help. It’s nice to be on that side as well.
And in the end, my day was completely and totally different than I would have planned it. I have some work that I would have liked to do today. There may be a time crunch down the road from not getting to it today? Or, maybe not. Maybe if I can really wake up everyday and conciously, out loud say, “Well, what do you have for me today, God?” – maybe things will all fit better in my days? We’ll see.
For today, it still makes me smile to see how God directed my day. 🙂