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I was scheduled to have my liver removed in thirty minutes so my hurried behavior was justified.  I’m fibbing of course, but maybe something as grave as that would excuse my poor behavior.

I was in line at the grocery store. My cart was heaping full. The college boys in my home can make my fridge look as empty as a felled rain forest in as much time as it takes my laundry to go from finished to unfinished (a scenario which is often a matter of minutes.)

The young man that was checking my plethora of produce was painstakingly slow. I mean “let’s defy physics” kind of slow. I didn’t say anything unkind. But I had “the look”. You know what I’m talkin’ about. The “give me a break, you’ve got to be kidding me, can we please get moving” look.

I shot him the nasty glance and then I saw them. His hands.

They were trembling.

In my frenzied transfer of items from the cart to the conveyor belt I was too busy to notice.

This time my eyes moved more slowly. I traced his nervous hands up to his young face. I guessed him to be a high school student. I thought “This could be your son Cindy.” It wouldn’t surprise me if it was his first day of work.

I wanted to weep.

I wanted to take back my cross demeanor. The good news was that I had a shot at redemption. I quickly started to ask him questions about his work, handed him items, and thanked him for being so careful.

I have a feeling that the young man had no idea the kind of existential crisis the “old lady” at the check-out was going through. All I know is that the rest of the drive home the question that haunted me was this,

When Did I Get So Mean?

My friends tell me they struggle too. These are the moments I want to blame it the fact that most of us feel BEHIND.

We HAVE to get…

Life starts to feel like one big row of falling dominoes. 

No wonder we lose our cool.

The good news is that there is hope to be found when we decide to look at life from a different perspective.

My Dad would have said it this way, “One hundred years from now it won’t matter.” He was absolutely right.

Whatever form of behind we’re facing (no supper planned, missed deadline at work, way overdue for a date with our spouse or friend) it’s helpful to find perspective when we look at it all in the light of eternity.

I recently ran across the book, Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches us to Live in The Light of the End (David Gibson, July 2017). It’s in my Amazon cart. I won’t let myself purchase it until I finish two more books that are sitting on my nightstand.

In the meantime, I’m going to cling to Ecclesiastes’ wisdom to help me maintain my perspective—

In. It’s. Time.

This pearl helps me remember that we can do what we can do and then we can choose to trust Him with the outcome as well as the timetable. 

Bottom line (pun intended) I’m learning that if a situation seems unbearable, a timeline seems unsustainable and a desired outcome seems unattainable I can take a chill pill and know…EVERYTHING will be made beautiful in its time. 

Savoring the Journey with You,

 

Cindy

 

 

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