Have you ever had a delay that made you so mad but then you look back and thanked God for it?
I recently had one, and I’ll admit it was not one of my finer mom moments.
My daughter’s passport was due to be renewed. After an already long day in school, then swimming class, I decided to stop at the local pharmacy on my way home. My daughter gladly took the first picture, where the guy sat her in a foldout chair – even though I asked him about it – he thought it would have been fine. I said ok. I had also quickly pulled up her hair in a high bun because I just wanted the picture done and look presentable.
After the guy gives me the receipt and prints the picture and shows his colleague, she advises that it was no good. Ok. No problem. Let’s take another one. My daughter absolutely refused. That was her one and done for the night, and she was done. That’s when it started. It was probably one of my worst mommy moments. She was tired. I was tired and I just wanted it done. There was no amount of lecturing, cajoling or screaming that was going to make her retake that picture. All I could think – I just want this done, and we are on a clock, and she was not cooperating. There were more tears and begging forgiveness than I can ever remember.
A few days later, I was in Walmart, and decided to try again. The girl took the picture, told me to come back in 10 minutes. As I was doing my shopping, I went back about an hour later. When I went back, her colleague started looking for the picture, and then he remembered, oh yeah “there was a problem and she didn’t print it”. When she did come back, she explained that my daughter’s high bun was causing a problem and had to ensure that both her ears were in the picture. She was meticulous about taking the picture, because she knows that there was an acceptable picture, and there was not. And when I was done, the price was half of what I would have paid at the pharmacy.
You see, when I look back in hindsight, I have to thank God for my daughter’s tantrum. (sorta).. Had she cooperated, I would have taken the picture to the post office, only to be told that it was not acceptable, or worse yet, sent it off, and had it returned as unacceptable.
Isn’t that just human behavior? We (me) lecture, scream, cajole, when things do not go our way. Meanwhile, our Heavenly Father knows what’s best for us and stops us in our tracks because He can see the big picture, where we cannot.
Lord, sometimes there are delays and we get so mad because things are not happening according to our plan. But you know best and you know all about timing. Help us to trust you, and to put all our hope and faith in you. Help us to not lean unto our own understanding, but to trust your will.