Give Thanks (in all circumstances)

Friday night as we ate supper with our friends in Bloomington, we reflected on the day. Everyone had a horrible one! One daughter missed out on a part in the school play; the dad had to bring money to another daughter whose friend wanted to go home from an event unless they could buy tickets to do stuff. One 6-month-old son had a piece of metal equipment fall on his head during a photo shoot. And another dad had to work late and miss our meeting. Pete & I were late to supper because there was traffic in the Cities, and because when we were supposed to leave at 4, I was just arriving home to pack. Here's why:

Philip and I arrived at Runnings to pick up a donation for the benefit on Sunday. I waited several minutes while the clerk tried to figure out what Mike, who was out to lunch, wanted to give. I finally agreed to come back on my way out of town, when he might be back. I had a premonition already; as we left the parking lot, I said to Philip, "I hope the whole trip isn't going to be like this." I had three errands I wanted to complete before dropping Philip off to spend the night with cousins.

Philip had unexpectedly earned $10, so he was going to buy our snack and chose Arby's. We waited in the drive-thru line for a couple of minutes until a server came out and said the drive-thru was broken and we could just drive around to the window and order. After waiting for the two cards ahead of us and ordering our food, the guy at the window said they were waiting for fresh potato cakes so we should pull ahead and they would bring our order out. By this time, I just laughed and told Philip, "I knew this would happen. I'd better figure out what I really need to get, because I'm not going to accomplish anything extra, I can see that already!"

While in line, I called Yvonne to see if I could meet her somewhere to give her a gift for a baby shower I'd miss the next day. She was at home, so I'd have to swing by her place (3-5 miles out of the way) on the way home. The Wal-Mart stop went smoothly (Surprise!), and I brought Philip to the church parking lot where we were to meet my sister-in-law. We waited several minutes for her, and it turned out that, for the first time ever (of course!), her daughter was waylaid by some friends on her way out of school and she was late. I chuckled and told them the story of my trip so far.

Alone now, I headed back to Runnings, where Mike still hadn't returned. I waited several minutes before they told me he was on his way. He arrived, very apologetic that he'd forgotten to set the donation aside. He gave me a nice fishing rod and reel, and another clerk said she wanted to donate an electric knife, and out the door I went. After stopping at the church to drop off donations, driving to Yvonne's house to drop off the gift, I arrived home at exactly 4:00, when we should have been on the road.

Occasionally everything will go right on a trip and I'll get much more done than I thought possible. I think this trip, the exact opposite, was a test, and I think I passed it! I was cheerful and patient and willing to drop half my desired errands. Thanks, Lord, for giving me perspective.