I was rummaging through my refrigerator and pantry the other day trying to piece together a meal. Yes, I should had thought this out ahead of time. Yes, I should have put something in the crockpot that morning or jotted my meal ideas down in my meal planner with my handy coupon organizer and my "make your life perfect" journal- but it's me. Let's move on! I had spaghetti noodles and frozen meatballs, but no sauce. I had taco seasoning, chips, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, but no taco meat and we just finished off the colby jack cheese at lunchtime. There were plenty of random items that didn't seem to go with anything: oyster crackers, half a cucumber, a can of sliced black olives, a jar of cherries, something unidentifiable wrapped in foil, and about 8 half empty bottles of salad dressings (Who needs 8 salad dressings, especially when 4 of them are identical????). I had nothing to work with here! My kids were patiently (well, their interpretation of patiently) waiting for Mom to whip up some dinner and I had absolutely nothing. Well, a quick call for pizza saved the day, but it made me think (after I slowed down and the paper plates were thrown away- because I forgot to run the dishwasher that morning). The half empty pantry full of unless ingredients looks pretty familiar. This is how I look to my family most days. I've used up all my caring and encouraging words in the classroom where I teach. I gave away my last ounce of patience when I finished off the afternoon errands and made it through the horrendous traffic. My calm and nurturing spirit ran completely dry because it was one of those "everything that can go wrong went wrong" kind of days. Now I'm home with my precious kids and my loving husband and they are looking at all my leftovers. I'm not proud of it, but it happens- almost DAILY! Where does a girl get help with this type of "nothing left in the pantry" problem--- God of course! He is our light, our refueler, our come-to-the-rescue Deliverer. He promises to be EVERYTHING we need. Psalms 73:26 is a great reminder, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." It's comforting to know God is in control instead of me. I've learned the hard way, that if I want to have the emotional and spiritual pantry stocked at the end of the day, I need to meet with God in the morning before the busy day begins. I need to be reminded throughout the day of His gracious love and encouragement through scripture memory, praise songs, and Bible verses plastered anywhere I can stick them. Then, at the end of the day, I need more time to just pour out my heart, express my gratitude for His many blessings (that sometimes I didn't even notice until the end of the day), and ask for wisdom and guidance for the next day (because only God knows what tomorrow will look like). I find, when I do these things... I've got more than enough to offer anyone who shows up at my dinner table! Oh and, Timothy-my love, if you are reading this, there's still nothing to make a meal with at home, but we can go grocery shopping together after you take me out to eat tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment