Yesterday I was having "one of those days." My Navy school got out late which caused me to be late to VBUMC Praise band practice. I could not figure out why I was so on edge about it. It has happened before, but why now am I focusing so much on it? The rest of the evening I was practically exploding on the inside, even though I was trying my hardest to put on a smile and "suck it up"...it just was not working yesterday.
Later on that evening after Bible study, me and my girlfriend went to McDonald's. For whatever reason, they were having some issues with service time. I could tell the people around me were getting a little edgy, and to be quite honest with you, it was making me chuckle a little on the inside. Why you ask? Because I used to work in fast food so I have a little more patience for things like that...
We got our food and took a seat and started eating. After a few minutes I noticed that I had dripped ketchup on my shirt, so I wiped it off and kept eating. About 2 minutes later I did the EXACT same thing, only about twice the size, in about the same spot. I was amazed at my clumsiness. I said to myself "I can understand once, but TWICE?!" haha... That's where the motivation for this title came from.
See I realized something yesterday. All the events that occured (School getting out late, McDonald's being backed up, and the Ketchup on my shirt) were all lessons in patience.
God said in Galatians 5:21-23 -- "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
I don't like to think that God was "testing" me, but it kind of seemed like it yesterday. It wasn't really testing, but I think Challenging me to be the better person. He challenges us all to be the better person you know? I could have very easily "shown my butt" in McDonald's just like the rest of the customers, but I chose not too because I know that deep down inside, that would not be pleasing to God. It took all of those events yesterday for me to realize that.
My girlfriend kept asking me if I was feeling better, and I was, little by little. But I told her "sometimes it's good to be aggrevated for a short amount of time, because it reinforces that we are still human, and we still make mistakes." I don't think that could be any farther from the truth. If God didn't want us to make mistakes, he would pluck us all from this world and place us in the land of "perfect" (reminds me of those old commercials for something that always advertised "perfect" haha) He let's us make mistakes to make us realize that no matter what, he will be there to pick us up, dust us off, and put us "back in the game." That is amazing folks.
So with all of this, I challenge you, have a little more patience for the "little things." I promise you it won't hurt you, and you'll probably feel way better for it in the end!
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