This weekend Reid and I hosted our annual Super Bowl party.
We love to host it every year, but of course that does come with some stress
preparing the house and getting everything ready. I woke up early on Sunday,
and was picking up around the house when I realized the upstairs toilet was
still broken. I had let Reid know about it months ago (and every couple of
weeks since then), but he is a professional procrastinator. And honestly we
very rarely use that bathroom, so it was kind of “out of sight, out of mind”. But
I was pissed. Here we were, preparing to have 25 adults and 6 kids over, and
one of our toilets wasn’t working. I stormed into the bedroom and inquired as
to when he was going to fix it, seeing as we needed it TODAY. We had so many
other things to do that day, and now he has to take a toilet apart. I started explaining
to him that now I see that being a 3 hour job (yes, I like to over-dramatize
the situation from time to time) and then what if he can’t fix it and now we don’t
have any extra time to spend on it. His response: “I understand that you’re mad
I haven’t done it yet. But can you at least wait until I actually fail to fix
it before you get mad that I can’t?”
Wow. What a profound thing to say.
I am Christian, but I wouldn’t say I’m super religious. And
lately I’ve been very mad at God. While my overall attitude has been better, I
wouldn’t say that it’s because I’ve put my trust in God that everything will
work out. In fact, I’ve started to distrust Him. Some days I’ve decided that He
isn’t going to “fix” our situation, so I become really angry with Him. But
truth is, His time’s not up yet. I just can’t see the full plan. The party hasn’t
started. I have to say though, even typing that out makes my skin crawl.
Because I’ve heard so many times throughout this journey “God has a plan”, and
while yes, that’s true, sometimes I want to punch the person telling me that
because it’s usually not a good time for me to hear it. But it’s the truth. Months
ago, when I mentioned the broken toilet, I can 100% guarantee you that Reid
didn’t think “Oh, I better fix that because we’ll need to use that toilet
during Super Bowl.” He didn’t know the full plan. And we don’t either.
Halfway through Reid fixing the toilet, I went upstairs to
check on him and saw the complete mess that was the bathroom. Tools were strewn
everywhere and the toilet parts were laying on the ground. It only increased my
anxiety, because I just couldn’t see that mess turning back into my clean
bathroom. But that’s where we are right now… the mess. The parts are out of
place, and the tools are laying all over the floor. But He’s working on us.
Thanks for that reminder, God. I do believe that my Mema had
something to do with that message. And it makes me smile just thinking about
it.
Oh, and Reid would like you all to know that the toilet DID
get fixed. With plenty of time to spare.
What a beautiful and profound message/reminder! In a recent church conference one of the leaders spoke about how you can only see the dots connect looking back and going forward we truly have to have faith in the plan. Not easy for sure, but necessary. Sending you continuous love and prayers! Also, I’m glad Reid got the toilet fixed!😉
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