Interruptions and Inconveniences

I am a serious “planner.” I love a good plan and I tend to have a plan for just about everything. I’ve usually thought it through, calculated everything from cost to time and most importantly…. made a list! That’s exactly what I was about to do this morning right after my quiet time….because the second thing I love is a good routine and I function best when I follow a morning routine of coffee and quiet time. Then God used the verse and devotion today to make me stop and ponder my “plan”… an interruption of sorts.

The first part of Ephesians 5:1 says,

                                                  Be imitators of  God

Well, that sounds like a very tall order, extremely difficult… in fact… frankly, impossible …because He is God and I am not. We are two very different beings. One perfect and holy and the other…. honestly… about as far as possible from either of those things.

So, how can I  be an “imitator” of God? What does that look like? How can I be perfect and holy when I’m clearly SO far from it?

Bottom line…. I can’t! But I can certainly look to Jesus as the example and with His help…. try!

One thing the author of my morning reading brought out was the fact that Jesus was always being interrupted. He always had a plan, a place He was going, some purpose for going there, people He was going to minister to… but there ALWAYS seemed be someone or something that interrupted His plan, someone that stopped Him along the way that needed something. I bet the disciples often felt frustrated by those interruptions and saw them as inconveniences. But, those “interruptions” almost always led to miracles.

I know I can feel very impatient and exasperated when my “plan” isn’t going as well as I expected… when the things on that list aren’t getting crossed off like I’d like them to. I’m pretty sure we’ve all experienced it… there’s a phone call, someone needs a favor, the baby/child makes a mess we need to clean up… and the interruptions and inconveniences go on and on.

But Jesus never minded being interrupted or inconvenienced in order to meet the needs of those around Him. He never minded cleaning up the “mess” someone had made of their life, offering a comforting or encouraging word, healing a blind or lame man. In fact, some might argue that the “interruptions” were really the “plan” all along.

Maybe that’s the place to start in imitating God, a way of being more Christ-like? Am I able to see interruptions as opportunities? And interestingly, just in the middle of this paragraph, literally as I was trying to type the last sentence, I was “interrupted” by two texts and the dog needing to go outside… and in all transparency… I felt a twinge of frustration…LOL… God does have a sense of humor! In fact, this whole post is an “interruption.” I need to make a list and get started … and it’s a pretty long list… but then….well, here we are. 

We’ve all had those wonderful experiences where we got side-tracked by someone or something and it turned out to be a huge blessing to them and in return a bigger blessing to us. I hope we all have. I know I have, but admittedly, it’s been far too long. But it’s in those moments we realize sometimes miracles are waiting in the interruptions. No, I’m not going to heal anyone or completely clean up their messy life. But, I can offer a kind and encouraging word, meet a physical need, give directions to someone that’s lost, and just be the hands and feet of Jesus for a brief minute. In the grand scheme of things… will it really matter if stopping to help puts me in traffic and dinner is 15 minutes later than usual? Does it put me two people farther back in the checkout line? Do I have to skip the coffee drive-thru because I took a phone call and have an appointment to get to? 

Maybe this is the way I can begin to imitate Christ. How would it change my life, and the lives of others, if I could have the “miracles are waiting in the interruptions” mind-set today and everyday?       

Or more importantly…. What IF the interruptions are REALLY the plan?

As I’m now off to make my list and get started with my day and maybe  (hopefully) encounter a miracle from an interruption….This is my prayer:

    Lord, help me see the interruptions not as inconveniences and help me be willing to walk in them, setting aside my plan in order to fulfill Your purpose and find the “miracles” waiting beyond.