It's Not Perfect in Australia Either

I remember when I was in college I had to Teaching Children's Literature. While the books I had to read were shorter in nature and some of them had a considerable amount of pictures, they all seemed to have at least one valuable lesson. Admittedly sometimes that lesson was don't ever make your kids read this book.

There was one book in particular that I truly loved: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. This book is about a child that is experiencing a freefall of less than pleasant experiences and his solution is to move to Australia. Clearly his logic is that he can distance himself from his problems by moving far away from where they are happening. And while his conclusion is wrong, it's also understandable.

Obviously for me to have thought of this book you know something must have triggered it. Here is a rundown so far:

1. My sweet (annoying) fur baby woke me up by pressing on various parts of my body at 4:00 AM.
2. The workout I did (30 minutes from warmup to cool down) was brutal. I am questioning my sanity.
3. I turned off the air because it was cooler over night and it got really hot super fast. I hate being hot.
4. I took down laundry only to find the 'fixed' washer is broken again and thus ate my quarters.
5. My man-child is undecided about the pool because he is more focused on the x-box until he generally springs it upon me (at the last possible moment) that he does in fact want to go.
6. I can't go to the library until someone comes to look at the water heater.
7. I don't want to move to Australia.

It was when I was walking up the stairs from putting in the laundry that the memory of the Alexander book popped in my head. Talk about a divine interruption. As soon as my thoughts went to If this is how my day is starting, this is not very promising of how it's going to turn out, I immediately shifted my focus and perspective to something that was nothing less than a nudge of the Holy Spirit. The thought? If this is how my day is starting, clearly God has a lot he wants to teach me.

Granted, it's only 9:44 AM and there are a lot of hours left to go before his mercies are new tomorrow morning. And honestly, significantly more could happen between now and then. So rather than staying focused on what I would have preferred to be different, I'm going to think about what's on the list above and ask God to reveal what he ultimately needs me to know. I can only assume it's important because it would appear he's gone out of his way to get my attention. And in the end, I'm certain that if I deal with my irritated feelings and allow him to cover me with his grace, he will undoubtedly restore me back to joy and make all of the ick I felt worth it.