THE WASHING MACHINE
It wasn’t what we wanted to be buying, especially before birthdays and Christmas but who ever really wants to buy a washing machine? Before we were able to purchase another one, I had learned where to go for the laundry mat. If you haven’t gone for awhile..well…things have changed. It was almost $50 for each trip! There is the loading of all the clothes, towels, sheets, into your car, unloading everything, buying a laundry mat card, figuring out all the different “ kinds” of wash. And then you put it into the dryer ( that’s assuming you can get one) folding up all the clothes, putting it all back in the car, taking them out once you get home and then putting everything back. So, you can see how excited I was when we finally got our washing machine this weekend. It took fairly little time before it was hooked up and ready to go. Kev did a pre-rinse beforehand and left to watched the rest of his football game. Within a few minutes I heard a familiar sound of rushing water!! I screamed to Kev and ran in the room only to see the water all over the floor. I grabbed towels while Kev tried to turn it off. Once again I was back at the laundry mat while Kev called the guys to come “fix” our new washing machine. I was SOOOOO angry! Have you ever been angry, really angry? Were you angry because of someone, your circumstances, our current affairs, or even God? I was just putting my clothes in its plastic bins when I finally looked up and saw the people in the laundry mat. It was packed with people from all different cultures, social standings, genders, economic differences. And just at that moment God spoke to me; “ Because of your anger you missed your appointed time”. “ But God, I had a RIGHT to be angry! Haven’t you seen what I’ve had to go through?” I realized at that very moment, I was there because SOMEONE needed to hear about Jesus, to show them Gods love, to pray for them, or to just listen. Anger doesn’t leave room for love or for God. It can consume you, rightfully or not, to the point of missing real JOY. There was a prophet name Elijah who also believed he had a righteous anger. He had just shown all the Israelites, Baal worshippers and their priests, the power of God. But, a queen named Jezebel, said she was going to kill him. He ran away and said he was just going to die. God wasn’t interested in his pity party and eventually got him back on track for his real purpose. This wasn’t the blog I was going to write but it was the one God wanted me to write. If you find yourself angry today, for whatever reason, I would encourage you to step back and ask the question I did not; “ God, help me to see your purpose through your love and not my anger”. It’s a new day…with new appointments….Amen? Yes, amen.