On Peace and Patience

Dear Reader, 

I have been wanting to write since I posted my last message on Tuesday, but life always seems to get in the way. So I've had to exercise patience. Patience is a difficult fruit (Galatians 5:22, 23) to cultivate. I had a great opportunity to exercise it last week, and I chose not to. I started off thinking, When I get out of this one, I'll be able to encourage everyone with how patient I was.  I’ll be able to tell them how easy it is to turn to God when we're in a bind. Well, the latter part holds true...if we choose to turn to the Lord. Let me tell you about my day.

I clean out my rats' cage at least twice a week.  I bring the cage and the girls (Abigail and Fanny, for Tiffany) into the two-doored enclosure to the bathroom sink. I've been cleaning their cage in there for weeks, allowing the two to wander around curiously as I make their home a little less smelly. It's a small space, and after having mishaps with Abigail under the entertainment console in the living room and both of them behind the refrigerator, I figured there was no possible way for them to get into trouble in a tiny area. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Fanny discovered a small gap between the wall and the cabinet under the sink. So I laid out cornbread crumbs and quietly, patiently waited for her to come out. That ordeal lasted no more than half an hour, and since, I've been stuffing the holes on either side with hand towels. That seemed to work. 

And then Thursday happened. I started at 9:00am.  Everything was fine until just before I finished cleaning the cage. I had been watching the girls, but Fanny must have escaped my view just long enough to make her way back into the hole. So I put Abigail into her clean cage and decided on graham cracker crumbs as a lure this time. Well, it didn't work. Neither did baked apple. Or honey. Or peanut butter. I tried to use Abigail as a lure a couple of times, but Fanny would just poke her head out and then pop back up to whatever was so important up there.

This isn't just a cute story about my pets: It's about how I fell apart and didn't allow myself the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). All day, I went about my chores and errands and Bible study like a zombie. I could focus on an activity for a few minutes, and then I'd think of a more creative way to get Fanny out. So I'd spend another twenty minutes, thirty minutes, hour desperately trying to get my rat back in her cage. I felt sick with worry (that crevice seemed like a perfect home for a black widow), and I refused to listen to reason (and the Holy Spirit) telling me that she'd come out if I just left her alone. I tried! I'd leave the room for fifteen minutes and then poke my head in to see if that was enough. It wasn't. I wasted the whole day because I wasn't waiting on the Lord to answer my request to bring Fanny out safely. I wanted that prayer to be answered before it left my lips. 

I imagine if things had gone differently, I would've stayed out longer running my errands instead of dashing home to check on my pet. I don't think I would have been grouchy like I was when my husband came home. And I can bet I wouldn't have felt sick all day, because the peace of Christ would have been ruling in my heart (Colossians 3:15).

She did come out. It was 10:30pm, but she came out. Abigail got so excited when we reunited them, and my husband was happy to stop hearing about it from me. I can't tell you how relieved I was. Then I realized how differently things could have gone. Instead of ignoring the Spirit's attempts to quiet my worry and direct me toward God, I should have listened. How much easier those thirteen-and-a-half hours could have been! How silly I was.

I hope you find this tale amusing. I also hope you'll look to the Lord the next time your rat crawls into a hole in the wall. 

God bless,

adguglielmo