Today's guest post is from Madona Seedhom - a close friend of mine who works as a teacher at Good Shepherd Christian Academy. There she has the honor of being the homeroom teacher for my son Michael (so I'm secretly hoping that giving her this guest post will boost his handwriting grade a bit). Madona is one of the original founding members of St. Timothy & St. Athanaisus church in Arlington, VA. You can follow her on twitter, @MSeed0906. If you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.
I have this tradition when I get home from work. And by tradition, I mean this crazy unexplainable thing that I do every day for no apparent reason. When I pull into my parking spot at home, I sit in my car for an uncertain amount of time, look in my backseat at the bags of things I have to carry, and dread the three flights of stairs I'm about to climb to my apartment.
Every day.
5 minutes. 10 minutes.
Sometimes 15.
I finally set my record for 50 minutes this one particular day. It was a sunny day, unusually warm for the season. I pulled into my spot, thought about the load I was about to carry, the work I was going to have to do once I made it up the stairs, the dog I would have to take right back down the stairs to do her business... It was looking pretty grim.
For 50 minutes I came up with at least 7 different plans to avoid the "suffering". As the 50th minute rolled around, the bottom fell out of the sky, and the rain began to pour. Now I was going to have to carry everything in the rain, take the dog out in the rain, and then, have the nerve to be mad at God about the rain.
Which begs the question... WHY DID I WAIT FOR THE RAIN???
Recently it seems like I've been really good at avoiding things I need to do and I end up wasting a lot of precious time... And trust me, the added pressure of wasted time helps NOBODY.
You know what the Bible says about people like me? Well first of all, it calls us a sluggard. What an ugly term for an ugly habit.
"How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man." Proverbs 6:9-11
It's clear. Not only will waiting not accomplish anything, but it brings worse things along with it like Poverty and Want. And then when the world falls apart around us and everything is wrong, we get upset with God. We gaze at the sky and throw our hands in the air and wonder why, yet again, He's making us go through this. 'What, God, are you trying to teach me THIS time?'
Don't do that. Don't blame God. I was the one who sat on my butt in my car that day and didn't move. He was there the whole time hoping I would get up before the rain came down on me.
There's a situation that you haven't felt ready to deal with. There's a change you haven't been ready to commit to. There's some problem that seems to just not want to go away like you thought.
I get it. It's hard. I'm right there with you.
Try praying this to God: "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
Do whatever it takes... But take it from me and don't wait -- The path is already a little thorny and a little long without having to be soaking wet, too.
For discussion: what are you blaming God for today that is really your own doing?