11/24/25- A Reminder
I had a long day today; I’m sure many other people did, too. The morning started pretty well: calm, quiet- but my wife and I were babysitting, and one of the kiddos wasn’t feeling so great. As in, an unhappy tummy not great. And her siblings are all highly energetic little balls of movement. Oh, and it was raining out, which wouldn’t be so bad- I really like a bit of rain from time to time- except I’m a landscaper and I have properties to get cleaned up before Thanksgiving in a few days. Needless to say, this was one of those days were nothing went as planned.
I was able to start my day doing a bit of administrative work on my laptop, and for the most part doing that and wrangling kids wasn’t so bad, but I’ll admit my patience started to wear a little thin by about 9:30. I am currently a parent of one, raised in a family of four, and the oldest of two- I did not grow up accustomed to the chaos of a bunch of kiddos doing everything, everywhere, all at once and it was a bit of a struggle for me to not get frustrated, though we held it together.
By noon it looked like things were clearing up enough to go out and do a bit of power washing. I got out, got my equipment, was all good to go… and promptly got my truck stuck in a rut. A deep one. While my trailer was hitched up and loaded with all of my equipment. I started to freak out a little bit after that, and spent the next several hours trying to work my truck out of the mud, pulling every trick I could think of; digging out the tires, sliding boards in, getting rocks to place under/around them, even using my floor mats for a little extra traction, etc., but it just would not budge. I got more and more frustrated, thinking about how little I was looking forward to the possibility of having to call a tow truck or explain the situation to my boss- I was in this position because I had been trying to avoid damaging part of one of the yards and I went the long way around- and all that frustration did me absolutely no good. I was on the phone with my wife while a good chunk of this was taking place, and she graciously and kindly encouraged me through it, till finally, bit by bit, we started to get some traction. We were out! And my work day was already over. I deflated a bit, partially from relief, partially from the looming sense of “I don’t want to do this” that kicked in when my boss texted me to ask why this came up.
My mom called and I complained to her about my day for a little bit after I let my boss know how/why things had shaken out that way, and then it hit me: I was being really ungrateful and had not shown very much patience and humility at all in my situations. The kids were a handful, but they got their chores done and really are a delightful little bunch of kiddos. My truck was stuck, but as bad as it had been I never needed to call a tow truck or anybody else to get me out, so it cost me nothing but time. (Especially since nothing was broken but a few throwaway boards.) I hadn’t really been patient all day, annoyed with the kids and irritated by the truck to the point that I fixated on the circumstance and let it dictate my attitude all afternoon. I definitely had’t been humble, accepting that the fault was mine and moving on instead of complaining about the circumstances and the fact that I was going to have to explain myself. I chose to respond poorly today, and while God may have been kind to me by letting things work out alright in the end, I still think there was a lesson for me to learn here. I prayed on my drive home and asked forgiveness for my poor attitude and responses, and I started to really reflect on how, even though I’m definitely doing better than I was a year ago, I am still very flawed and prone to complacency in my attitudes. I think we’re all like that sometimes. I wanted to type out and share this quick, badly written little post to remind/encourage you (and myself) to keep pressing on; sanctification is a process, and we will have days like today sometimes. It is important that we don’t linger on them or let them control our attitudes, but that we look to Christ and continue to follow Him, cross on our back, with humility, patience, and gratitude for the gifts He has given us. We weren’t promised today, and we aren’t promised tomorrow; we should keep that in mind and give thanks in all things.
Thanks for reading! This wasn’t nearly as structured as the studies are/will be, and that’s likely how the day-to-day style posts will be going forward. I hope it’s semi-coherent. Have a great night, and see you next time!
