Yesterday was one of "those" days. I wanted to do nothing more than to just go into hiding. In thirty minutes, I had managed to forget to put my car in park and rolled into the trailer hitch of a massive, parked truck. In addition, I nearly side-swiped an elderly gentleman who decided to exit the curb and Jay walked across an intersection, only to land almost directly in front of my moving car. Upon entering the shopping mall, this was quickly followed by the realization that I had lost my glasses somewhere between the encounter with the trailer hitch and skillfully dodging the elderly jaywalker. Emotionally, I was spent! Sitting in the mall parking lot, it had taken me no less than 10 minutes to find a parking place. I knew I would have to give it up and retrace my steps to find my glasses. Yes, it was turning into quite a day. In retrospect, the events of this less-than-perfect Saturday were nothing more than the culmination of quite a week! Shaken, I considered going across the street to the nearest chain store that sold eyeglasses and buying a new pair.
I rationalized that I had had about enough excitement for the week, so I deserved to take the easy way out, even if it wasn't the most cost-effective. Instead, I regained a drop or two of sanity, gave up my parking place, and retraced my steps to all the locations I had been to. I had no luck at any of the places I searched, but back in the mall parking lot, I discovered them on the passenger's side of the car, nestled between the seat and the door. They had been there all along. I wanted to be disgusted with all the time I had wasted, but instead, I chose to settle for a rattled mindset and a tiny bit of gratefulness. I needed to stop and try to process all the unexpectedness of the day. Reluctantly, I searched for any positives that could be recognized from this crazy afternoon. My gratitude included that the trailer hitch was untouched, and I only had a damaged license plate. The safety of the elderly gentleman was good news despite his continual scorning after much apologizing on my part. At the least, it had ended safely, I thought as I watched him continue to shuffle, still unlawfully, across the parking lot. As for the glasses, I was thankful I had been spared the expense of a new pair. All in all, somehow, these unexpected, unplanned occurrences had been resolved.
Who hasn't had a careless fender bender, offended a pedestrian or driver, and hasn't found their missing glasses in a ridiculous place? The most likely answer is that we have all been in similar situations. Getting too comfortable in our routines and not expecting the "unexpected" occasionally leaves us wide open for the enemy to weigh into our perceptions, attitudes, and decisions. Failure to acknowledge beforehand that sometimes, life will catch us out of nowhere, and strong winds will blow into our lives, stirring up the "we've got it all under control" mentality, we let ourselves believe the worst to our detriment.
In the unanticipated stressful times of life, without conscious effort, our contentment vanishes, our confidence is shattered, and sadly, our trust in others is sometimes destroyed. If we do not carefully guard our hearts, one lousy day tempts us to accept defeat, turn in the towel, or buy new glasses.
The Apostle Paul knew was no stranger to bad days." In fact, the scripture indicates that he had quite a few of them throughout his ministry to the Gentile world. His new converts to Christianity, known as the Corinthians, were quick to cave when things did not go as planned. Paul used an analogy that would hit home with them to get their attention. There were no safety deposit boxes or "Cloud" services to store important things electronically during his lifetime. Instead, people kept their valuables in jars of clay. Imagine storing your most precious possessions in containers made from dirt. Paul used this comparison to help them see that within themselves, just plain ordinary earthen vessels, because of God's power in their lives, they had everything they needed to withstand life's unexpected and sometimes unpleasant experiences. There was no need, as they often did, to give in and settle for easy solutions to problems that would only yield temporary results. Instead, he encouraged them to call upon the power of the Spirit of God in their lives to get them through the trying times of life. They would trade temporary solutions for eternal ones by exercising God's strength.
In theory, this sounds good. However, sometimes, when life happens, we are caught off guard. When the less-than-desirable happens, and the unexpected is before us, our "earthen vessel or spiritual jar of clay" can leak from a few cracks. This is no surprise to our Heavenly Father. In fact, our flawed existence and imperfections are inevitable. It's part of living in a fallen world full of less-than-perfect people like you and me. Yet graciously, the Master does not leave us in this condition. He can mend our earthen vessels, refine and remind us that such unexpected trials that disrupt our lives are but for a season. If we dare, we can see the irony. The unwelcomed becomes welcomed when the Master is doing the mending.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God, not us. We are hard-pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:7-9
So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
❤️
ReplyDelete