Life's Little Interruptions
It's 4:57pm. I figure that I have about 18 minutes before I have to get real serious about finding something for supper. I'm anticipating these precious 18 minutes of free time; time that I plan to devote to delving into the book that I picked up in the morning and didn't make it much past the introduction before I was...interrupted.
So, book in hand, I come charging out of the bedroom and I almost collide with my youngest who is coming with a sad little story in her hand. The little squirrel daddy from the squirrel family set appears to have had an accident and his tail has somehow come loose from his body. It is a sorry state for a squirrel and my youngest is not too pleased.
I feel a little discouraged. I would love to state that squirrel daddy will just have to wait for his tail operation because I now only have 17 minutes of free time for reading and I just don't feel like attaching tails right now. However, I know that I will find it hard to find time later. So, with a selflessness that I'm not really feeling, I head for the storage room and I unearth the glue gun. I breathe a prayer of thanks that I could actually find it and that there were also glue sticks. I lay my book down on the counter beside the glue gun and as it heats up, I look at my book. This book that I wish I was reading, it is titled Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore. I find it a little ironic that I wish I was sitting somewhere cozy reading about the life of my Saviour, the One who took time for all kinds of interruptions. The One who patiently stooped and touched the ill, who sat and spoke with sinners, who taught in the synagogues, who walked miles with people who needed to learn from Him, who didn't brush aside those who truly sought Him out, and I am grudgingly going about my task, irritated that my plans were altered.
Squirrel daddy has his tail back on and there is just time to return the glue gun to its corner of the house before I begin serving the family some supper. It turned out that there wasn't any free time. All I read was the title of my book, but that one bold word on the cover; that name -- JESUS, it was enough to cause me to ponder, to reflect, to remember, to be grateful for who He is and what He has done for me and just that amount of reading was enough to help me to remember that I am not here on this planet taking up space simply to please myself. Jesus came as a servant - He allowed people to 'interrupt' His days; these were His divine appointments, these were His opportunities to teach the people of the love of the Father. As His follower, I can do no less. I must learn to see life's little interruptions as opportunities to put myself aside and show the love and compassion of Christ to those around me.
