Crazy Day

I thought it was going to be one of THOSE days. I awoke to find that my alarm had not done it's job. Well,that isn't exactly true. It went off and I thought I hit the snooze button. I turned it off instead. So at 7:20am, a full 50 minutes past the time I should have been up, I scrambled out of bed to get my kids fed breakfast, teeth brushed and out the door to awaiting buses. When they were gone I raced to get myself ready and out the door. This was not goinig to be good. I had a tonne of things to do and I was sure something important was going to be left undone or someone was going to be let down.

Well, I am ok with things not getting done. Things can wait - like laundry or emptying the dishwasher. But when I let someone down? If I don't meet someone's expectations? That upsets me. When I fail to meet my own expectations? That kills me.

I read somewhere that we have expectations and then we have reality. The further apart our expectations are from our reality, the more frustrated we are with our lives. So, it would seem that we have two choices: lower our expectations or alter our reality. Sometimes we do well to lower our expectations of ourselves and of others. This can be the kindest thing you can do for yourself and those you care about. Regardless, we still have expections of some kind. And since we can't alter reality, we need to make sure that our expectations of ourselves and others are reasonable. So, what is reasonable?

Micah 6:7-9 tells us "He has shown you, oh (wo)man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

Today, in my crazy busy day, did I do as the Lord has instructed? As I raced to get kids out the door, did I act justly and did I show mercy to the child who had a hard time getting up and going - just like I had? In my frustration with the day, was I humble or did I act as though what I had to accomplish was more important than being kind to the grocery lady as she took WAY TOO LONG to scan my items?

We are always going to have unmet expectations - like alarm clocks not going off. And we are going to let other people down when we don't meet theirs. This is reality. We can be uptight about it or we can rely on our Heavenly Father for grace to deal with it! And Grace through Jesus Christ is what he offers us when we fail to meet HIS expectations of Holiness. Let's receive it with gladness and joy - liberally passing it on to those in our lives who also need us to extend it to them!

Tonight as I set my alarm (which I fully expect to wake me up tomorrow) and get into my unmade bed I can thank God that He sustained me today. I didn't do everything perfectly. I didn't accomplish all the things on my to-do list. But God doesn't care. He cares that I took time to be with Him. He cares that I was merciful and kind to others. He cares that I tried to be a little more like Him today.