Free to Interrupt
I planned my afternoon and evening with precision. After helping a friend at 4:00, I would return to campus at 6:00 for dinner, work out at 7:00, go to a meeting at 8:30, attend one of my favorite weekly devotionals at 9:00, then happily go to bed at 10:00. It was a perfect schedule...except that it didn't exactly happen.
Every Thursday afternoon, I volunteer to help a friend here in Searcy by driving her to run errands because she is legally blind. Over time, it has become more than just that. We have shopped, cooked, sewn, read, and taken walks in the park together. Now my Thursday afternoons are not volunteer hours, but special times that I get to spend with a dear friend that I have made.
On this particluar Thursday afternoon, we ran our errands and got back to the house, only to find that we had left the keys inside. We were locked out until her husband came home at 7:00. Well, that kind of threw off my perfect schedule, but that is when God reminded me of a bold prayer that I have been praying this week: God, feel free to interrupt my schedule.
So often, I get into the habit of living by my schedule. I plan everything just right, and I do everything in my power to make it work just the way I want it. When I live by my schedule, I am prone to miss the opportunitites that God places in front of me. I pass them by because I have other things to do - other things to "check-off" my to-do list.
I know that God wants to give me life to the full (John 10:10), and I don't want to miss a single opportunity to go where he wants me to go, do what he wants me to do, and meet who he wants me to meet. That means sacrificing my schedule, so I have been telling God every morning, Lord, you are free to interrupt my schedule today. I want to be led by you in all I do, even if that means changing the things that I had planned.
So instead of doing what I had originally planned, I hung out with my special friend until about 7:20 when her husband arrived home. I took her to dinner (in the student center of course!), showed her the beautiful Christmas lights on campus, gave her a nostalgic tour of my dorm (which she used to live in), and played the piano for her. While we were strolling around campus, she bumped into an old friend that she hadn't seen in years, and it brought her much surprise and joy. We both later agreed that the unplanned interruption of the day's events had been a blessing in disguise.
So maybe my "perfect" schedule did not work out today. That's why I am writing this at 11:48 when I wanted to be in bed at 10:00. But I believe God's perfect schedule did work out. Thank you, Lord, for interrupting my day today. I feel like I really live life to the full when you do.
Every Thursday afternoon, I volunteer to help a friend here in Searcy by driving her to run errands because she is legally blind. Over time, it has become more than just that. We have shopped, cooked, sewn, read, and taken walks in the park together. Now my Thursday afternoons are not volunteer hours, but special times that I get to spend with a dear friend that I have made.
On this particluar Thursday afternoon, we ran our errands and got back to the house, only to find that we had left the keys inside. We were locked out until her husband came home at 7:00. Well, that kind of threw off my perfect schedule, but that is when God reminded me of a bold prayer that I have been praying this week: God, feel free to interrupt my schedule.
So often, I get into the habit of living by my schedule. I plan everything just right, and I do everything in my power to make it work just the way I want it. When I live by my schedule, I am prone to miss the opportunitites that God places in front of me. I pass them by because I have other things to do - other things to "check-off" my to-do list.
I know that God wants to give me life to the full (John 10:10), and I don't want to miss a single opportunity to go where he wants me to go, do what he wants me to do, and meet who he wants me to meet. That means sacrificing my schedule, so I have been telling God every morning, Lord, you are free to interrupt my schedule today. I want to be led by you in all I do, even if that means changing the things that I had planned.
So instead of doing what I had originally planned, I hung out with my special friend until about 7:20 when her husband arrived home. I took her to dinner (in the student center of course!), showed her the beautiful Christmas lights on campus, gave her a nostalgic tour of my dorm (which she used to live in), and played the piano for her. While we were strolling around campus, she bumped into an old friend that she hadn't seen in years, and it brought her much surprise and joy. We both later agreed that the unplanned interruption of the day's events had been a blessing in disguise.
So maybe my "perfect" schedule did not work out today. That's why I am writing this at 11:48 when I wanted to be in bed at 10:00. But I believe God's perfect schedule did work out. Thank you, Lord, for interrupting my day today. I feel like I really live life to the full when you do.
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