The activity level in our house every morning before work is probably much like what takes place in homes all across the country.  Gale and I have our early morning routines; mine begins early, but hers starts even before mine.  With it being just the two of us in the house we usually manage to dart around and achieve what we need to in order to get to work on time.  However, some mornings include a few unwanted events that tend to upset the flow of progress.

As I was finishing up my early morning walk last week, she drove up to the walking trail and stopped by on her way to school to face a room full of four and five year olds.  Her brief visit there with me is part of our usual routine; since she has to be at work earlier than I do, it gives us a couple of minutes to visit before we go our separate ways for another long day.  She was running a little late so it was a relief to see her drive up.  After forty years of marriage we can read each other pretty well and I did not like what her face was saying that morning.  Before she uttered a word I knew something was on her mind and it did not appear to be something pleasant.

When I asked her what the problem was—even before she said anything about a problem—she told me that she had sat a Pepsi on a table and somehow the can fell off, hit the floor, and exploded.  There was no bodily harm done, but it created a huge mess as it spewed the contents across to the other side of the room spraying the liquid on the door and couch.  That resulted in a sudden change of plans; rather than dashing out the door at her usual time, she had to do some unplanned house cleaning along with some unwanted frustration.

By the time I knew what had happened it was all finished, so I was of no help to her with the clean up.  I don’t remember what I said to her, but hopefully it brought a little comfort.  Nevertheless, in spite of it all, the day proceeded.

Maybe sometimes things just happen and we cannot pin any genuine significance to it, and sometimes there might be some significance that we cannot identify immediately, but we need to always be mindful of the words of Proverbs 16:9:  “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (New International Version).  And Proverbs 20:24 states that  “A man’s steps are directed by the Lord.  How then can anyone understand his own way?”

At the moment, Gale’s incident was of great importance to her; it had stolen time from her that she intended to use in a much more productive way.  But in the bigger picture of life, most of the unexpected frustrations that we encounter are soon forgotten and we move on. 

During those times when delays happen or I get rerouted away from my planned routine, I try to remind myself that perhaps it prevented me from being at some place of danger, or maybe I was delayed a bit so that I would encounter someone that needed a helping hand or an encouraging word.  I was probably wise not to have that discussion with my wife that morning while she was trying to get her day back on track, but I am confident she would agree that we can trust God as we walk closely with Him.  The words of 2 Corinthians 5:7 are worth remembering:  “We live by faith, not by sight.”