Do You, Like us, Have problems leaving Home?

Are you like us, New Direction, when it comes to just simply leaving the house? It seems it takes an act of congress just to get out the door. My husband is an avid 'be on timer', in fact he likes to arrive everywhere early. You know, so you can wait. Yeah, well, I'm not. I'm happy if I get where I'm suppose to be 5 to 10 minutes early and it doesn't bother me if I walk in a few minutes late. Now, it makes a difference where I am going. But no matter what, something will always happen to delay us, make us late or even cause us to not even leave the house.



There is always the phone call you can't ignore. A cousin calling about a sick family member and you hate to be rude because they never call otherwise.



Or once, just as we were trying to leave, the donkey in the pasture decided that the guide wiring for the electric pole was a wonderful thing to scratch his itch with. He would lean up against it and begin rubbing, causing the electrical lines to shake and vibrate all the way from the pasture to the house. This caused the electricity to fluctuate and surge so we had to go over to the pasture and lock the donkey in a different pasture before we could leave.



Then there is the neighbor who is a little off plum (OK, a lot off his plum line!) that thinks he needs you to take him to the doctor right then and there because he hasn't had cigarettes and coffee and he is sure his dead grandfather took the cigarettes and drank the coffee.



Then there is the Sears service repairman that knows someone you know and wants to tell you all about the mutual friend and what they are doing so that he can go back to them and tell them what you said.



How about in your haste to get away from the house you forget your paperwork that you need to accomplish the task that you are leaving the house for in the first place and you get halfway to the highway and have to go back. You pick up your papers run back out the door, get to the end of the road and discover you left your cell phone and you were expecting an important call, so you have to go back again.



Oh, I could go on and on and write a book on this subject alone. My husband gives me lots of material. However, I have adopted the attitude that if I'm late, then OK, I'm late. There is no sense in having a stroke over that fact that traffic was horrible, or someone had a wreck and made you late or you lingered over breakfast too long this morning. I made up my mind to take life as it comes. What exactly can you control anyway? Even if you did leave an hour early, something will inevitably happen. I am also of the opinion that if you allow things and circumstances to 'raise your dander' then it will. If we allow ourselves to get aggravated by Satan's attempts to steal our joy then he will have succeeded.



That doesn't mean that I don't get my 'dander' up once in a while or that I don't get aggravated, I do. But I try to let the Lord help me to be slow to anger and not use so many idle words. I don't want to have to stand in line giving an account for all those idle aggravations when I could be enjoying eternity!



Have a blessed day, and don't 'idle' too long...



Donna Smith, New Direction Ministries
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