“Dear Lord,” I prayed, “help me today to not sweat the small stuff … And Lord, I also need help to realize that it’s ALL small stuff! Amen.”
And then I left the house – to discover my kids had missed their school bus.
I was almost to work, now 10 minutes later after the unplanned trip to school, when I realized that I had left something cooking in the oven … Yikes! I would have to return home to turn off the oven, or there would be unplanned-for consequences!
The day at work went from bad (I was late!) To worse. The pile of unaccomplished work on my desk only piled higher, and thanks to an ill-timed phone call from a manager, even the things that absolutely HAD to be done weren’t finished by the time I had to leave.
Normally I would have simply stayed late, but today I couldn’t. I had to pick up my boys from school to take them to the passport office before it closed for the week. As I ran to the car, now 10 minutes late to pick them up, I couldn’t stop the tears of frustration from flowing down my cheeks.
“Help me, Lord!” I cried. “I am frustrated, I hate leaving stuff undone, and that’s all I’ve done at work for weeks now. I don’t want this to ruin my weekend!”
It wasn’t long before a lilac bush in full-bloom appeared to my right. Wow! Breath-takingly beautiful! And there was another on my left! And the cherry trees were in full-bloom, and all the other blooming trees! Suddenly even the dandelions seemed beautiful.
I arrived at school to wait. And wait. And wait. I truly believe that my boys have some kind of a deal going on where they HAVE to be the last ones out! And then one appears, and finally the other, only to have to return into the building to pick up something forgotten … Sigh.
Once in town, I realized I didn’t even know where the passport office was, and then, two sets of directions and two u-turns later, I discovered I didn’t have change for the parking meter. Once inside, I was frustrated and angry to learn that the rules had changed. I couldn’t renew my boys’ passports without their official birth certificates, something I had never bothered to order …
Determined to make this day at least somewhat meaningful, I decided to go to Costco and pick up the bread machine I had seen online. Only to discover that our Costco didn’t stock this particular item.
Sometime while I was in the store, it started to rain. Pour, actually. And naturally, I had left laundry drying on the line before leaving for work that morning …
My older son suggested that he drive home, an offer I readily accepted. I wasn’t in much of a state to drive anyway, because the only thing louder than the heavy drops pounding on the roof of the car was the voice in my ear: “It’s ALL a waste! Nothing but a waste! This entire day, a WASTE!!!”
I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to stop the tears of frustration, trying to stop the overwhelming sense of despair.
That’s when I again remembered my morning prayer. Yes, it had been all small stuff, hadn’t it? Just a cruel series of coincidences, but ALL small stuff! And hadn’t I been able to spend the afternoon with my boys, something that I rarely get to do!
I fell asleep about then, and when I awoke, I was ready to face the rest of the day. And I’m happy to say that the rest of the afternoon and evening were the most productive I’ve had in weeks. In fact, I accomplished an entire weekend-full of work in those few hours.
“Come until me all you who are burdened and heavily laden, and I will give you rest …” (Matt. 11:28)
Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff when you give it to Jesus!
In His love, Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, and the Scriptural Nuggets website, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer ministries, www.answers2prayer.org.