An Opportune Time…

It had been a long day…a really long day…

New problems had presented themselves practically every minute…

Driving home I was proud of how I had handled all the challenges.

As my self congratulatory mood expanded, I marveled at how I had acted…

How I hadn’t lost my patience once…

How I had been gracious to others…

An epic meltdown would have been justified, but I had stayed calm.

Wow! I had been exceptional!

(By this time, don’t you think I should have recognized that the epic meltdown was happening right now?)

My wife called.  Could I pick up a few things at the store?

This was not the opportune time for her to ask that question.

All I wanted to do was get home.  Sit down.  Relax…

I said yes, but I might have sounded a little surly.

When I finally walked into our house, I was ready to do absolutely nothing…

“Would you fix dinner?” my wife asked.  She was involved in a project…

I said yes, but this time there was no doubt I was surly …

The phone rang.

“Hi”, my daughter said.

“What do you want?”

“Uh… maybe I’d better talk to Mom…”

I banged the pots and pans as I fixed dinner…

Finally it was ready.

“Why don’t you say grace?” my wife asked.

And there I was.  Face to face with God…

What could I do but thank Him for the challenges of the day and His strength, not mine, that had carried me through the challenges and shielded me from temptations?

The LORD is my strength and my shield; Psalm 28:7 

What could I do but confess that when I thought the challenges were over I let down my guard?

Be alert, be on watch!  Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour  1 Peter 5:8

What could I do but ask him to remind me that the opportune time for me to be attacked is not in the heat of battle, but when I think it is over?

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time Luke 4:13.

What could I do finally, but admit that without Him I am powerless, that He is the only One who is awesome?  What could I do but thank Him from the depths of my soul that He is always with us?

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.  Hebrews 13:5