You have heard the famous Beatitudes list, right? Blessed are the ‘so-and-so’ for they shall be ‘such-and-such’, etc., etc., etc. It’s a great list. You should check it out some time, Matthew chapter five.
Well, once I heard an addition to the list that has forever remained part of my Beatitudes.
“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.”
That is so true, isn’t it? When we are flexible it is hard to become irritated, flustered or hopping mad about something that didn’t go just exactly the way we’d hoped it would go.
Once we invited friends over for dinner. Christmas dinner. I had the menu planned for this fancy chicken dish and beautiful sides. Out of town guests deserve the best, don’t they? So I popped the birds in the oven and went about getting everything else ready. The friends arrived. The kids were playing together nicely. I told them dinner would be ready in 10 minutes. I went in the kitchen to check on everything. Opening the oven, low and behold, cold. Cold, I tell you! In the middle of cooking the gas tank had run out. What were we to do now? I discreetly called for my husband. We looked at each other. He saw the pre-panic signs on my face and said calmly. “It’s ok.” He then went into hunter mode, told his buddy they were going to fetch dinner and left the house. A half an hour later they were back with stacks of greasy goodness. It wasn’t the chicken dinner I had planned, but that is ok. We still ate, and that was the point.
Here is a list of ideas for keeping it loose:
- Let God be perfect and you stay human.
- Adjust your expectations.
- Look for solutions not problems.
- Be a peacemaker, not a panicmaker.
- Two heads are better than one. Get help.
When it is all over with, thank God for the opportunity to grow in some kind of important character quality. You know the ones I am talking about. That rough bit of your soul that you avoid so skillfully. This might be God’s sand paper smoothing you out. I’ll be honest. Sometimes it has felt like he has pulled out the industrial strength power sander machine and just let ‘er rip rather than just a cute little rub from a tiny piece of sand paper. In the end, I was glad. In the end, I grew.
What flexibility story do you have?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Angie, thank you so much for this post, it hits the spot right now. Blessings
Hahaha! I just read this after getting 11 rural school districts into my schedule and this morning I just got a text from a teacher that today’s schedule has changed!! Instead of having a nice gingerly Wednesday morning…I now have to leave an hour earlier to see this kiddo!
Just go with the flow!
)
@ngie, this is so good, and something for the perfectionist in me to really grow in
I so felt for you reading this story – just that it was so lovely that you were trying to go such an effort for your friends for Christmas dinner, and the horror you must have felt when you realised it hadn’t cooked – eek! I love the happy ending – good on DaRonn for saving the day with take-out