A Choice to Make

Yesterday afternoon I had a few hours where nothing could or would go right. As I took Tracey and the rest of our female staff to the airport (they are currently in Guatemala participating in a women's outreach) I discovered that there is still something wrong with our car. We had some broken engine supports (at least in Spanish that is what they are called. Could be engine mounts in English) replaced. Well now there is a new sound, similar to a 747 landing, and a vibration that shook my seat better than any of those massage chair things ever could. Needless to say, something is not right and I will be keeping my weekly appointment with our mechanic again this week.

After the kids and I arrived home I was busy chasing Sawyer when I heard Olivia screaming for me in the other room. Turns out she had grabbed a pair of scissors and cut her finger. Nothing too bad, but of course she wanted mommy and was not happy when I reminded her mommy was in Guatemala.

Shortly after getting a band aide on Olivia's finger some furniture we had ordered was delivered. As we were unloading it I began to notice things like a mirror on a dresser wasn't the design we had ordered, a bed wasn't what we had asked for, and some poor work on the bed for the kid's room. So about half or more of the order had something wrong with it.

It was just one of those days. In the midst of feeling sorry for myself the Lord spoke to me. He has a habit of doing that when I least expect or want him to speak. In the quiet of my heart I heard the Lord telling me, just like I often tell Olivia, "You have a choice to make." Don't we always have a choice to make? We can not always choose or control our circumstances, but we can choose how we react to them. As we continue to adjust to life in a new culture I find I need to tell myself to choose to react well far more often than I have ever before.

I think it was Charles Swindoll who once said, "Life is 10% circumstances and 90% how we react to them." Well with all due respect I think his numbers are a bit off. It seems to me it is more like a 5%/95% split, maybe even 1%/99%.