Interruption or Divine Appointment? Keep a Quiet Heart

I was all ready to launch a video today (...well if you call still had to call Apple to work out some software bugs and learn how to do it in the first place "all ready") to introduce our topic we'll be covering next, but I ran out of time. I had some things that needed to be done for my family.

My husband asked me to frame some beautiful fish pictures that someone gave my son. My sons can take some of them for their college rooms. (All 3 of my guys love hunting and fishing. Me? I like going out to eat;-)

Yep. My boys are leaving for college this week! (cry, cry) One will be a junior and one will be a freshman. I'm so glad they will be at the same university, but it will be way too quiet for me! I told Mary I want to rename her "Comfort," because she will be my comfort. She said she is not a bit sad, and wants to be an "only" child this year.

At first, it felt like an interruption to stop and frame the prints. Once I began, it didn't even take me that long, and to top it off, I got the the frames at Michael's with a 25% off total purchase coupon and they were on sale too!

At 20 and 18, they need so little right now and doing it for them ended up being a pleasure, but I almost missed it because of being busy doing "my list." I know that other "interruptions" though don't always go so well—mostly because of my bad attitude toward them.

Do you look at things you didn't expect in your day as bothersome or divine appointment?

Look at this quote I read this weekend by Annie Keary (English writer in 1800s) that urges us to keep a quiet heart about what we view as "interruptions."

"I think I find most help in trying to look on all interruptions, and hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one's work. Then one can feel that perhaps one's trues work—one's work for God—consists in doing some trifling hap-hazard thing that has been thrown into one's day. It is not waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it is the most important part of the work of the day,—the part one can best offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work; trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it."

~From Daily Strength for Daily Needs, M.W. Tileston

I've had this tactile fish Mary made for two years!!! Got it framed this weekend, too.

Maybe you like me, struggle with interruptions and need an attitude check. I want to trust God and hear His voice when I am caught off-guard with a sudden interruption. It could be a divine appointment especially if it is from an authority in my life or from those He has called me to serve. Usually, the very thing I was avoiding ends up being such a source of joy that I almost missed.

I know it does not honor God when I respond with an anxious spirit or worse yet, what I use to tell my children was an "unhappy face." I want to do better in that moment remembering He will give me the time and help me later to finish the work I had "planned" to do.

How about you? Do you struggle with this, too?

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..." ~Ecclesiastes 9:10

"Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to." ~Deut. 15:10

Walk by faith,