What are you trying to teach me, Lord?

It’s past midnight. I’m working like a madwoman to get everything in order for tomorrow. I’ve straightened things and laid out our clothes and stashed things and sorted things. I’ve laid out lunches. I’ve collected the uneaten leftovers for the dog before they turn green. The empty leftover dishes are in the sink, ready with the rest of the dishes to be washed.

And then, the microwave blows up. I turn it on again to see how it’s acting before I tell the babysitter if she can use it or not tomorrow. The sparks and metallic zapping noises convince me that it’s officially dead. Now that the window and the fridge and the washer and the drain and the tub have been fixed. But the microwave? NO!!! (Screams of exhausted desperation.) Healthy or not, this family with 3 kids 5 and under relies pretty heavily on a microwave.

As I put the blown-up appliance by the back door for the dumpster (after I take out the trash and gather the laundry and feed the dog before I dash out the door in the early morning) and I find the mysterious reason that I’m finding old, stinky water in my cabinets. The cabinet top is broken and water from the dish drainer is leaking down through the cabinet top and into the dishes. So I’ll have to clean that cabinet out again tomorrow after work and disinfect and wash the dishes that were in it. As I wet my rag to clean up the mess left by the microwave, I hear a strange sound. I open the cabinet to get some cleaner and find water GUSHING under the sink onto my cleaning supplies. (This, less than 5 minutes after the microwave incident.) And I’m so stinkin’ tired I keep forgetting and turning the water back on!!! More gushing noises. I’m not kidding.

So there’s water everywhere. And I try to jam the broken pipes back together, but the water doesn’t drain well now. And I’ve got a mountain of dishes waiting for me. What now? Do I take all of the cleaning supplies out and put all of the soggy rags in the laundry and deal with that mess? Can’t leave it for the babysitter and the kids to explore in the morning…..and I have to walk out that door for work at 7:30 am. David will wake me up around 4 as he gets ready to leave for Chicago at the start of another week.

And through all this I’m trying to figure out what in the world to do with the kids tomorrow night so they’ll be safe while I mow our jungle of a yard. I’ve mowed packing a baby on my back before, but it’s really not the safest of ideas. Or should I just let the jungle grow and let the talkers talk?

I’m not complaining (well, maybe just the teeniest bit) But I really do wonder….why? Is there some great lesson that I’m supposed to be getting? Because if there is, I’m SO ready to get it and move on with my life.

Maybe it’s that I’m too attached to my schedule and my predictable Alabama life.

Maybe I just need to have more meaningful devotions (translation: staying awake), and all my appliances will act perfect.

Maybe He’s trying to teach me a deep patience and reliance on Him.

(I tell you what, if I make it through all this I’ll have the patience thing SO gotten. Need some patience? You just come over this way, sister…..I’ll have spiritual muscle to spare.)

Or is it just that sometimes life stinks and then you die, and there’s really no purpose for the string of unfortunate events?

Thankfully, the lunch I laid out for the babysitter does not need a microwave.