mrs grumpy pants

confession time ... i am STILL learning about patience!

you'd think that after an 11 month wait for a condo - my patience with the trivial would be a little better refined! sigh ... well, i was surprised to learn - 'tis not so!

friday, before leaving for a quick trip to the city - i read joe stowell's devotional entitled "life in the waiting room" ... here is part of it:

When life or people don’t measure up to our expectations, being patient can be quite a challenge. But it’s clear that God wants us to develop this character trait. After all, patience is more than a virtue—it’s a fruit of the Spirit. It reflects His very presence in our lives, for He is a patient God. If He weren’t, we all would have been annihilated long ago.

So what’s our problem?

There’s a good probability that our struggle with patience has been unsuccessful because we’ve been trying to focus on our own agendas and timelines and not trusting that, for reasons best known to Him, God may have a whole different schedule for us. Our propensity to live with a short fuse is all about forgetting that God puts us in His waiting room on purpose, because He is often doing something behind the scenes while we wait.

now before i tell you about my little experience, let me just say that when i get tired (excitement over condo = 3 nights of very little sleep), i have great difficulties being "mrs. christian nice lady" ...

sooooooo, now the story ... i drove into the city yesterday, over ice covered roads, to do some very necessary banking re our condo purchase ... i also made arrangements to have lunch with some folks who were in the city for only a few days (out of province) ...

i had already set my mind to the "they will be late" mode, i told myself not to get upset over this ... you see, i am an EXACT and extreme opposite - i have being on time down to an artform!

i was at the appointed place, at the appointed time ... and only 20 minutes had elapsed (which isn't bad), when i saw one of the ladies come through the restaurant doors ... only she was coming to pull me out of my comfy seat - to trek to another restaurant ... sigh ... ok ... i left, but i felt the "i'm not happy" bug start to bite ...

it was a short drive to this other eatery - through friday afternoon traffic ... a wait for our seats met me at the door of this noisy place, plus after we were seated - the next chore was to line up, fill your plate - and stand in line so that they could stir fry your food ...

i just had a soup and a sandwich and went to sit at our table - the ladies waited for their stir fry in a line that snaked itself around the chefs cooking it ... another 20 minutes ...

i became "mrs grumpy pants" as i ate lunch by myself - but i needed the time to pray for inner peace and forgiveness for my small mindedness and total non-enjoyment of this visit ... i felt this overwhelming urge to just sit there and bawl - it was then that i realized it must be the lack of sleep and the excitement of the condo plus the long list of stuff needing to be done in a short period - which was taking it's toll ...

i prayed that i would "get over it!" ... and the shorter version of lunch, with the ladies and their spicy stir fry, worked out nicely ...

my sweet aunt, who is a kindred spirit and was at lunch as well, reminded me to read over the joe stowell devotional that i had e-mailed her ...

when i got home - i did just that - and the words rang MORE true after my lack of patience in a trivial setting ...

i wanted to share, 'cause in my blogging world i don't want to puff myself up - and seem like "mrs nice christian lady" all the time ... there can be a grumpy ole soul that wants to make an appearance and shoot holes in the "nice nice" at the oddest times ... i have my struggles with those "little things" that can ruin whole days, if i let them.

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on a happy note ... we visited our condo again ... and now it's only 5 sleeps until we get the keys ... :o) .... i am patiently waiting ...