Since the wind chill last night was a mere -5 degrees, I thought today would be an excellent day to post to my brand new blog. I wrote this last fall but it just seems to fit today. Hope you enjoy.
Friday was the second cold and rainy day of the week. Just one of those bone chillin days when even though the outside temperature is not frigid the cold still seems to penetrate and bring shivers. I had held off turning on the furnace by using a small space heater to take the chill off the bedroom in the morning so that we could shower and get dressed. But now I had decided to bite the bullet and turn on the furnace, so with reluctance I went and pushed the system button to heat and the little golden light lit up telling me that heat was not far behind. I waited. Nothing. No heat.
It is one thing to be cold when you know all you have to do to relieve being cold is push a little button and you will have heat, and a totally other experience when you are cold and push that little button and there is no heat. I went from being a little chilly to being downright cold.
By now it is late Friday afternoon and all good repair people have turned their phones to their answering machines and gone to their nice warm homes. I knew that there would be no heat coming my way over the weekend. I did call and leave my name, number, and a short message so that on Monday morning I would be first on their list. We had plans to meet with friends on Saturday so that passed the time and occupied my mind from thinking about being cold. Sunday we went to church and turned on the little space heater in the bedroom and snuggled under a blanket to watch the football game. All in all not a bad weekend but Monday morning I woke up and it was still cold. By now any sense of adventure and fun had long since worn off. I wanted heat. I called to make sure the repair people knew I was in desperate need. They knew and I was on a list. How long was that list the nice lady on the other end did not know. Where my name was on that list she had no idea. When could I could expect to see a repairman standing at my door she had no idea. At noon I called again and still no idea. At three I called again. I told the lady I did not want to be rude but being cold for four days had made me a little crabby.
Late Monday afternoon here came the most beautiful repair truck I had ever seen into my driveway. Yippee! Now I was just praying I did not need a part that he did not have in that beautiful repair truck. I had no idea how many days that might take. About an hour and a half later – eureka – HEAT.
Tuesday morning I was back to my chipper happy self and talking to God. Like so many times before, as I talked with Him He turned my experience into a teaching moment as He shared this simple thought with me – being cold does make you a little crabby. I knew exactly where He was going. When I allow myself to become spiritually cold I get a little crabby. People annoy me. Life seems drab. Focus is inward on me, me, me. I had been hunting for a quote for over a week and – you guessed it – the first book I pulled off the shelf it was in.
“To pray is to change. This is a great grace. How good of God to provide a path whereby our lives can be taken over by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.” Richard J. Foster
Remember it is just a hop, skip and a jump from being chilly to down right cold. Say a little prayer and stay close to the warmth of God’s love today. Stay warm and be happy.
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