If there is a word that means more than exhausted…that’s the word that would have described me on that particular night. It had been a long day with three adorable, energetic grandsons, ages 18 months, 3 and 5. I had finally put them all in bed and I wasn’t sure I even had the energy left to make it down the stairs. I slowly descended, willing myself to put one foot in front of the other. I had planned on taking a shower, but that wasn’t going to happen without first sitting down and resting for a while.
I had only been resting in the chair for five to ten minutes when I heard a voice. My daughter’s home has an opening at the top of the stairs which allows a person to look down into the living room. I looked up and I saw Elias’ face looking down at me. In a very hesitant, soft voice he said, “Grandma, my bed is leaking”. I asked him what he meant by that and he said, “My bed is leaking and it’s all wet.”
As I said, I had just put him to bed, so I knew that whatever he was talking about…wasn’t a result of him wetting the bed…but I had no clue what I was going to find. The only thing I did know was the fact that I was going to have to now ascend back up the stairs, willing myself to put one foot in front of the other.
I made it up the mile-long staircase and into Elias’ bedroom and he had been correct…his bed was pretty well soaked. The culprit? A water bottle whose cap hadn’t been put on securely, causing its contents to saturate a very large area of the sheets and mattress cover. I was hoping that whatever I found would be able to be dried up easily…but it didn’t take long to figure out that the bed would need to be stripped and remade with dry sheets.
I knew at that moment I had a decision to make. I could let Elias know that this was the absolute last thing I needed to happen and ask him how in the world he could have let this “tragedy” occur. Or, I could take a big breath, count to ten, and ask Jesus to give me the strength to get the work done. Fortunately, in a very rare moment for me, I made the choice to do the latter and just get the work done, without having a yelling scenario play out.
Before long, the bed was put back together and I had re-tucked Elias into his dry, cozy bed. I picked up the wet sheets and as I was getting ready to walk out his door, I again heard his soft voice say, “Thank you Grandma”. Do you know what? After those sweet words…I wasn’t quite as tired
There are so many occurrences in our day in which we have a choice to make. A choice to either explode…letting someone else know exactly how upset we are with them…or a choice to take a deep breath and realize that voicing our anger will only hurt more than it helps. On that particular night…I chose to stay calm…but trust me…that isn’t always the normal for me. It’s so easy to act and then think…and as a result…relationships can be easily damaged.
This is a stressful time and many people are on their last nerve. It’s so easy to feel justified in getting upset and lashing out at those around us. Psalm 37:8 tells us, “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper – it only leads to harm.” This is one of those verses that we know to be true…but so hard to live out in the nitty gritty of life. But I believe it is possible if our focus and trust is in Jesus, the One who empowers us to look more and more like Him. When I am exhausted…He is not. When I am at the end of my rope…He is not. When I feel all hope is gone…He IS my hope!
Let’s make a point today to stop for a second before we react to a stressful situation…taking a big breath while asking Jesus to help us respond in the right way. We need to remember that this may be just another “leaky bed” experience and it isn’t worth saying something that will hurt our relationships. Who knows...our response just might diffuse a volatile situation and bring some calmness to these very unsettling days.
No comments:
Post a Comment