Proverbs 16:18

Hello again, my sweet readers! I delight in being able to take a little time with you today. Saturdays are such a wonderful blessing. Especially when we come to one that doesn’t have to be filled with a thousand errands and chores. I know that may not happen often but when it does…

Thank you, Lord!

I’m right smack dab in the middle of a somewhat peaceful Saturday. Yes, I have some chores to do and I need to run to the grocery store. And I have a work commitment this evening. But for right now, I am taking a little time to decompress and focus on my Father. It is like medicine to the soul.

Whether we realize it or not, we ALL need this medicine. The more soul-sick we become, the more necessary the remedy.

***

So, my Keurig machine and I are in a teensy bit of a spat. I enjoy my morning coffee as I stay tucked in my bed, reading the Word.  Now, I can do a morning without coffee. But I’ve learned I really don’t want to.

My little purple coffee machine, as adorable as she is, has been refusing to cooperate on this one daily task. Maybe she’s not a “morning person” anymore, I don’t know. I’ve done all the things you’re supposed to do. I’ve lovingly and patiently cleaned her out with vinegar dozens of times. I got the bottle of compressed air, at my brother’s suggestion, and have blown out the K-cup topper snippets and coffee grounds more times than I can recall. I’ve actually, on some mornings (and only the ones I wasn’t in a tremendous hurry), spent up to 45 minutes trying to clean her out all over again just to barely squeeze enough coffee out of her to fill half a mug.

Today, she stopped up again. And I simply wasn’t in the mood.

So, I grabbed my car keys and headed for McDonald’s. Little did I know I wasn’t in the mood for that either.

Here’s the thing about heading out into the world in the morning: as soon as you do, you invite others into your day’s story. Isn’t this why so many of us loooong for days when we can simply NOT head out at all?

To avoid the stress of my stubborn little Keurig, I invited the stress of an angry man in a red pick-up right into my Saturday morning.

I don’t know about you but I’m not sure this double lane thing at McDonald’s drive-thru has been a blessing…but my verdict is not fully out on that one. I pulled into the right lane this morning, which was actually the wrong one if I wanted my latte in a hurry.

For some reason, two cars had already come and gone in the left lane while I was still waiting for the lady in the minivan in front of me to finish her order and pull forward. Of course I began thinking to myself, “Man, I just want a cup of coffee.”

So I finally got to place my order and pull forward: Enter the man in the red pick-up. He was just finishing up his order in the lane to my left as I was pulling around. I knew I had the right away but I wasn’t particularly arrogant about it, I just took my place in line and grabbed my wallet. You know how sometimes you can actually feel a death stare?

McDonald’s was at a bit of a stand-still this morning so I took out a scrap of paper and began jotting down a quick list of things I couldn’t forget at the grocery store later on. I’m not a huge fan of wasted time. Well, unbeknownst to me, the car in front of me had just started pulling forward (I’m guessing like maybe 1 second prior because she was still in motion) and you guessed it, Mr. Red Pick-up laid on his horn. Right beside my left ear. Ouch!

I shot him a dirty look and slowly mouthed “O-K” with an expressional yet unspoken subtext of “You’re a bit of a maniac” and pulled forward. I’m not perfect woman.

All this for my morning coffee.

***

It occurs to me there are a lot of strung out, stressed out people in the world. In fact, I can’t tell you how many mornings I have preferred my comfortable home well over inviting them into my story.

But, I have no need to be a hermit. And if inviting the good comes with taking the bad, I’ll still venture outside my home.

The root of these angry outbursts is an ugly little word with a terribly BIG consequence: pride.

We get prideful because we believe our needs are more important than others; it’s almost always our go-to response. If someone is in the way of our goal, especially someone we deem far less important, we lay on our internal horn until we’re spewing hate into the lives of innocent bystanders.

It happens everywhere…all around us…all the time. It’s exhausting.

It may sound a bit innocent to say that God can fix this internal anger but I assure you, through my own trial and error, I’ve learned that no statement could be truer.

Our God is a God of peace.

Even though I was momentarily offended by that outburst this morning, I returned to my peace before I had even hit the second drive-thru window. I’m not patting myself on the back. I owe this ENTIRELY to my God.

In fact, by the time I had hit the second window, I was already wanting to calmly walk to the truck behind me to ask the man if perhaps he needed a good therapist. Or maybe I’d take a few seconds to assure him he doesn’t have to let that prideful heart continue to ruin his life or attempt to ruin the lives around him.

Yes, I realize he may have not taken well to either of those.

(P.S. His wife sat in the passenger seat of that truck looking utterly defeated so you can’t tell me that anger isn’t doing some damage.)

We can’t be perfect. But anger that always sits just a teeny bit beneath the surface and cannot be restrained in a fleeting moment of slight discomfort is a surefire indication we’ve got some work to do on our tired hearts. That anger could stem from something truly legitimate; it doesn’t usually come out of nowhere. There’s almost always some unresolved trauma behind it…if it isn’t just leftovers of a spoiled childhood. Both circumstances result in pride and some people just don’t know any better.  And honestly friends, way more often than not, it is simply a result of pain.

It makes it easier to offer grace to people who let their anger run wild when we keep this in mind: their anger is hurting them FAR MORE than it is hurting us.

But that sometimes doesn’t make it any easier to share the world with these walking wounded.

***

I was at a Subway not too long ago, waiting in a ridiculously long and slow-moving lunch line. There was a man in front of me and a man behind me. The man in front of me was on his cell, talking fast and wearing a scowl. The man behind me was tall and calm (and rather handsome, I might add).

There were two women working the counter. I was at a Subway seemingly in the middle of nowhere because I had driven a little ways out of town. These women were laid-back country through and through. They were slow-talking and sweet. And one of them was old enough to be my grandma.

They were almost like a comedy routine. In the middle of this busy lunch rush, the one would stop and face her friend and be like, “Ellen, can you get this hair out of my eyes?”

So, Ellen would have to remove her plastic gloves, address the hair situation and then get her gloves back on before she could continue making sandwiches.

The man in front of me was like a teapot ready to whistle. The little old lady cut his sub in half with a knife that hadn’t been wiped off since she cut the last sub in half…and he lost it.

“You just cut a sub with pickles on it with that knife and now you’re cutting my sub! Great! I guess I’ll just take a trip to the hospital this afternoon!!”

The little old lady looked shocked and so ashamed but she immediately jumped into an apologetic fix it mode: “Oh sir, I’m so sorry! I will make you a new sub very quickly. I’m so sorry!”

“Forget it!” He shot his last bit of scolding venom at her before exiting in a boyish huff.

Now, in my opinion, no woman old enough to be my grandma should have to spend her golden years working at a Subway. And no person on God’s green earth should ever be treated the way that man had just treated her…but ESPECIALLY not a woman working her golden years at Subway.

The man behind me, so full of grace, quickly jumped in to comfort the sweet lady who looked like she could burst into tears at any second. I was sooooo glad he did. And I turned around to see if he had a wedding ring on his left hand.

Yep, I did.

‘Cause I want myself a man of grace like that. That particular one was taken. But I’m ok with waiting a little longer for my own.

Why can’t more people be like that man? He waited even longer for his sandwich than the man who lost his temper. He was in the middle of a very busy day too. But he chose to offer grace when he saw the heart of this kind little woman who was truly doing the best she could.

We will never see the world with eyes of grace until we accept grace from the only One who knows how to give it perfectly.

Now I know I’m making an assumption that the man behind me in that line is a man who knows Jesus. But I make that assumption from some very real and concrete evidence. The people I know who don’t just call themselves “Christians” but draw near to God knowing they need His love and grace more than water or air, are the people that offer the world a precious heart like that…instead of ugly anger.

I have a grandma who still drives. And I know she’s a very cautious driver. And probably not the sharpest of all drivers (sorry, Grammy).

I think of which man I’d want in the car behind her if she was holding up traffic. The one who lost his temper over pickles. Or the one who jumped in with full-blown grace.

I also think of which one I would have preferred to be in that red pick-up this morning at McDonald’s.

And I thank God for people of grace.  With all my heart.

Friends, go ahead and read that Proverbs verse mentioned in the title of today’s post and know this:

God doesn’t say it to us in an angry tone.  He says it with a quiet but impassioned plea that we will come to Him, laying down our pride, and allowing Him to fill us with His love, patience and grace as He longs to do.

Can you just imagine that?  A world without pride?  Wow.  That would be like heaven.

Until next time, sweet friends, try and maintain your peace.  And go ahead and be the change this world needs to be a little more like heaven. We can’t control others but we can make our own choice to draw near our loving Father and fix the pain that causes us to act selfishly.  In doing so, we daily remember the grace that’s been poured into us and end up having an impact far more needed and appreciated than one more act of spiteful arrogance.

God can get us there…

as soon as we see how much we need Him.

 

May grace surround your heart today and always!