Last week I wrote about spending a good chunk of our first day traveling to see our sons in Austin for Christmas waiting in lines. We finally ended up getting a flight, technically two fights, that allowed us to end up in Austin, if only 14 hours later than we planned. I wrote that I lost “it” while standing in line. For a while that day I lost my patience, my peace, and my calm. I lost my joy for a trip I had been waiting many weeks to take. I didn’t yell at anyone or do anything physically, but I still lost “it.”
Fortunately, with the assistance of a helpful agent at the airline’s counter, the support of several family members, the presence of Cathy, and prayer, especially prayer, I found “it” that day too. We ended up having a great trip. I’m grateful I didn’t let my attitude ruin things for Cathy or anyone else!
The day after we got back home to Tyner, Cathy and I went shopping to restock our pantry and get ready for the New Year. We also took back a Christmas item that didn’t fit to get a refund.
As soon as we walked into the store, we noticed the Customer Service counter was dark. Someone was on a phone by the entrance seeing if she couldn’t find someone who could work Customer Service for the people bringing things back. The person who normally worked there had to fill in at a check-out register as they were shorthanded. It was the week after Christmas, so having someone to take returns would be helpful! We decided we could wait until the next time we went shopping, so Cathy had me run the item back to the car.
I don’t always have a great attitude shopping, even in the best of conditions, and the store was crowded enough to make me feel claustrophobic as I pushed our cart through packed aisles. Since we had recently been exposed to coughing and screaming kids on a long flight, I decided to wear a mask. It didn’t help how I felt.
Finally, we had our cart full and were ready to check out and head for home! But when we got to the front of the store, it was “déjà vu all over again.” The lines weren’t quite as long as they were at the airport the week before, but ours went from the checkout counter back through the clothing section to the middle of the store. I barely made it through our time shopping and now it would be another hour standing in a line. My attitude, already sputtering on fumes, took a nose dive. Ugghh! I was losing “it” again!
Here is a picture about halfway through our time in line.
Fortunately, with the assistance of a helpful agent at the airline’s counter, the support of several family members, the presence of Cathy, and prayer, especially prayer, I found “it” that day too. We ended up having a great trip. I’m grateful I didn’t let my attitude ruin things for Cathy or anyone else!
The day after we got back home to Tyner, Cathy and I went shopping to restock our pantry and get ready for the New Year. We also took back a Christmas item that didn’t fit to get a refund.
As soon as we walked into the store, we noticed the Customer Service counter was dark. Someone was on a phone by the entrance seeing if she couldn’t find someone who could work Customer Service for the people bringing things back. The person who normally worked there had to fill in at a check-out register as they were shorthanded. It was the week after Christmas, so having someone to take returns would be helpful! We decided we could wait until the next time we went shopping, so Cathy had me run the item back to the car.
I don’t always have a great attitude shopping, even in the best of conditions, and the store was crowded enough to make me feel claustrophobic as I pushed our cart through packed aisles. Since we had recently been exposed to coughing and screaming kids on a long flight, I decided to wear a mask. It didn’t help how I felt.
Finally, we had our cart full and were ready to check out and head for home! But when we got to the front of the store, it was “déjà vu all over again.” The lines weren’t quite as long as they were at the airport the week before, but ours went from the checkout counter back through the clothing section to the middle of the store. I barely made it through our time shopping and now it would be another hour standing in a line. My attitude, already sputtering on fumes, took a nose dive. Ugghh! I was losing “it” again!
Here is a picture about halfway through our time in line.
Fortunately, I had experience waiting in line from the previous week and it was still fresh in mind! I had even written a blog about it! This time I was going to work on finding “it” before I had lost too much of “it.” I said a little prayer about my attitude. I texted my sister, who happened to be sick, and we encouraged each other with some humor and “silver linings” before she took a nap. I’m not sure Cathy believed me when I told her “‘it’ was going to be OK”!
I’m pretty sure God is telling me it would be a good idea to work on my attitude when things don’t go the way I want. There are more instances lately than the two I wrote about in these blogs that have showed me my attitude could use some improving.
How about you? Do you ever get the feeling maybe God is giving you opportunities to work on something in your life? Are there times you feel like you may be “losing it” too? Maybe on the other side of the things that are causing us to “lose it” are the things God wants us to find?
I’m pretty sure God is telling me it would be a good idea to work on my attitude when things don’t go the way I want. There are more instances lately than the two I wrote about in these blogs that have showed me my attitude could use some improving.
How about you? Do you ever get the feeling maybe God is giving you opportunities to work on something in your life? Are there times you feel like you may be “losing it” too? Maybe on the other side of the things that are causing us to “lose it” are the things God wants us to find?
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