Overwhelmed and Grumpy

A chaotic hill of parcels tumbled towards the door of the van and as I approached, I heard the van driver breathe out in exasperation, ‘I don’t believe it!’ I thought perhaps whatever delivery we were to receive might be at the bottom of the hill but no, he quickly retrieved a small box and gave me the device for the signature.

Someone else is off work, it turns out, and this delivery man is doubling up and working long hours to get everything to the right addresses. All of our clicks on our computers keep this guy in a job, but it is a demanding and stressful role at times it seems. He was overwhelmed and grumpy.

Sometimes I can feel like others aren’t shouldering their share of the load and I can become overwhelmed and grumpy. I guess the van driver didn’t have a choice: it was his job to deliver the double load. But I usually have a choice and can elect to leave some things buried at the bottom of the hill of duties. 

Jesus invites us to walk with him and enjoy the ‘unforced rhythms of grace’. Everywhere I look I see things to be done, but they don’t all have to be done by me, today. I choose to walk in an unforced rhythm of grace with God today. The hill will still be there tomorrow.

Snow-soft thorns

I emerged from the back door in the dawning of the day to a winter’s hush as a curtain of large snowflakes dropped from the sky. Dusty was ecstatic, trotting off with purpose, her tail wagging joyfully. This is her kind of weather.

We slithered along the virgin snow, as yet unmarked by tires or footsteps, and turned down the lane. Bare-branched trees and thorny gorse bushes were blanketed with this soft covering and hung low to the ground. I particularly noticed the thorns, now so softly outlined against the brown trunks of other trees. 

I have to admit, my first reaction to this winter wonderland on a Monday morning when I had a hospital check up appointment, was not positive. I moaned inside as I thought of the tailbacks likely to slow progress to the big city. 

But how could I remain grumpy when Dusty frolicked like a puppy in the softly falling snow, every big flake unique? How could I keep grumbling when the thorns were now softened by this covering from above? When the harsh browns of winter were now draped in a fleecy white?

We don’t always get what we expect. Our well-planned days don’t always succeed. It took us one and a half hours to do a twenty minute journey. I had to abandon plans for a little shopping. 

But as I look out my window now and prepare to walk Dusty again, snowflakes drift down as if God were sifting icing sugar over the frozen earth of Scotland. He makes everything beautiful, if we only open our eyes and our hearts and put our petty plans in perspective. 

He can soften the thorns in our lives, if we only let him.

Thank you, Lord.

And now, into the winter wonderland.