I went to collect and eBay purchase the other day, and it went horribly wrong. An address not known by the SatNav (GPS), or on google maps. Got there 10 minutes after I arranged, and no-one was home.
I was very frustrated and disappointed. I had gone a long way, with 8 children, taking time out of a school day.
I was about to get really annoyed, and starting to boil up inside, when I stopped myself.
I was about to let a stranger dictate how the rest of my day was going to go down, and I was NOT going let that happen.
That was when I realised I was not far from a friend's house - a friend I had not seen for months, and I was missing. I rang her (which was a minor miracle, as my mobile, which hadn't been charging, HAD charged before I left, so I had her number!!), and she was in, and available for a visit!
My day turned around in a moment. I had a lovely time visiting, and it refreshed my heart. The children had fun (a family who are child-friendly, with toys, and games, and a helpful adult son...), and my soul was blessed, chatting with a like-minded friend.
It's so easy, in life, to be negatively affected when things don't go the way you planned or hoped.
Husbands can throw unexpected plans in our direction.
Children can do things that upset our nicely made plans.
Friends. Family. Colleagues. Totally random strangers.
They can all "upset the apple cart".
Most of the time, it's things that are outside of our control. We haven't MADE these changes - orchestrated or planned them.
It's what we DO with them, that we are in control of.
I simply REFUSED to let someone else spoil my day, and I was going to make the best of it.
I WAS in control of my own emotions, reactions and choices after the "wasted" journey.
God's Word tells us that we are to have self control. Allowing myself to get upset, frustrated and annoyed, when something happened out of my control, would have been a lack of self control on MY part. The key is in the "control" part of that definition. We need to stay in control of our emotions and reactions, when things go wrong.
Trust me, I don't always.
Not nearly always at all.
In fact, how I responded the other day was quite momentous for me, and a huge step forward.
Life is so short, and I don't want to look back and regret that I didn't handle situations with the grace and wisdom that God expects of me. I want to be a good example to my children, and teach them that we need to have self control, and be the masters of our own reactions and emotions. Not to allow the behaviour of others to affect how we behave.
So, the next time something throws your plans off, control your "self", and make new plans.
I am certainly going to try and implement it in my own life, on the many occasions it happens, by God's grace.
I was very frustrated and disappointed. I had gone a long way, with 8 children, taking time out of a school day.
I was about to get really annoyed, and starting to boil up inside, when I stopped myself.
I was about to let a stranger dictate how the rest of my day was going to go down, and I was NOT going let that happen.
That was when I realised I was not far from a friend's house - a friend I had not seen for months, and I was missing. I rang her (which was a minor miracle, as my mobile, which hadn't been charging, HAD charged before I left, so I had her number!!), and she was in, and available for a visit!
My day turned around in a moment. I had a lovely time visiting, and it refreshed my heart. The children had fun (a family who are child-friendly, with toys, and games, and a helpful adult son...), and my soul was blessed, chatting with a like-minded friend.
It's so easy, in life, to be negatively affected when things don't go the way you planned or hoped.
Husbands can throw unexpected plans in our direction.
Children can do things that upset our nicely made plans.
Friends. Family. Colleagues. Totally random strangers.
They can all "upset the apple cart".
Most of the time, it's things that are outside of our control. We haven't MADE these changes - orchestrated or planned them.
It's what we DO with them, that we are in control of.
I simply REFUSED to let someone else spoil my day, and I was going to make the best of it.
I WAS in control of my own emotions, reactions and choices after the "wasted" journey.
God's Word tells us that we are to have self control. Allowing myself to get upset, frustrated and annoyed, when something happened out of my control, would have been a lack of self control on MY part. The key is in the "control" part of that definition. We need to stay in control of our emotions and reactions, when things go wrong.
Trust me, I don't always.
Not nearly always at all.
In fact, how I responded the other day was quite momentous for me, and a huge step forward.
Life is so short, and I don't want to look back and regret that I didn't handle situations with the grace and wisdom that God expects of me. I want to be a good example to my children, and teach them that we need to have self control, and be the masters of our own reactions and emotions. Not to allow the behaviour of others to affect how we behave.
So, the next time something throws your plans off, control your "self", and make new plans.
I am certainly going to try and implement it in my own life, on the many occasions it happens, by God's grace.
No comments :
Post a Comment