The cold bites into her face making her gasp. A list lies on the seat beside her. She is heading for the car repair shop with plans for the day looming in front of her. Nothing seems certain. Worst of all, there is no one to pick her up from the repair shop.
Her morning prayer time has been delayed as she assists house guests preparing for a day of sightseeing. Part of her wants to go with them, and be carefree and light.
Bills wait to be paid, accounts balanced, windows need washing, meals prepared and necessary marketing awaits her attention.
On top of all this, the postage rate has just increased, taxes need filing, the washer is broken, the fridge is acting erratically and the pledge she’d made to herself to spend quality time with her mother is not being fulfilled.
And dear God seems to have fallen lower and lower on her list of priorities.
Just that day plans to meet her father have fallen through. The children are off with friends, her neighbor is exhausted and confined to bed, another friend’s own car is in the shop, and Suzie, Candi, and Judy are all at work. It looks as though she will have to wait the whole day for the car to be repaired.
Driving to the nearby town is the first peaceful moment in a sea of “to-do” tasks that have used up most of her week. Part of her wants desperately to pull over and just disappear. The need to be efficient eats at her stomach.
Pulling into the repair shop, she notices that it has not opened. On top of everything else, now she has to wait in the cold for the shop owner to arrive. She begins to tremor and shake from the cold as she sits in her car staring at the locked door.
“Doesn’t the world know that I have important things to do? Doesn’t God want me to get all these things done? And who ever heard of not being open on time? It is the number one rule in business: ‘Always please the customer.”
There’s no excuse for being late, she storms silently! Suddenly, an idea occurs to her that maybe no one will come and she will be forced to have a day unscheduled, all to herself. The thought made her feel light-headed and more than a little silly.
Just then a man pulls up, jumps out of his truck, unlocks the shop and lumbers over to her. Startled at first at the interruption into her thoughts, part of her wants him to go away.
The shop owner apologizes for the late time, mumbling tersely about his critically ill parents. . .not expected to live “…through the day.”
Tremendous sorrow at once envelopes her heart of crumbling stone. She expresses her sympathy softly and mumbles an offer to reschedule.
The shop owner’s face relaxes. He takes a breath and smiles.
Driving away she admonishes herself for being hardened to the needs of others. She feels small and shallow.
Just then her heart skips as she remembers her fantasy! She begins to smile and hum one of her favorite tunes. Her world begins to re-shape and warm with thoughts of all she has for which to be thankful.
Her compassionate and adoring children, her aged yet charming home, her dear brave friends, and her devoted and loving parents, are but a few fortunate aspects of her life.
She is going to make it up to God. It is going to be a great day.
And, it is all hers!
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