As a mom and teacher I have goals...I have endless lists of things that need to get done every day and week. I try to start organized and I even schedule in time to exercise, relax, and even pray. But lately..and maybe it's the time of year..I feel overwhelmed by interruptions. I have things that should only take only a hour (cleaning the house) and they end up taking 3 becuase I'm teaching my 7 year old how to empty the dishwasher, or overseeing my 4 year old mopping the floor. Or, just the other day, right in the middle of me making cookies for a church function, the 4 year old overflows the toilet and in the meantime the cookies burn while I'm stopping the flow, and I have to start all over, but I'm out of eggs, so I have to get everyone's shoes on and head to the store and right as we start to load the van, my 7 year old son tells me we should ride our bikes because it's better for the enviornment and we can get exercise (nice guilt trip). At this point my small window of time I allotted for these tasks are gone and we have to be somewhere...AHHHH! Why do I always have to get interrupted? it can be so frustrating. But as I wind down at the end of the day...I look over how it went and try to find Jesus in the day...and there He is..in teaching my kids how to do chores, spending time with them, walking to the store and laughing at the funny dog we always pass and saying hello to my favorite neighbor I never talk to becuase I'm always in a rush. As I look back at my last week, everytime I felt Jesus and the holy spirit were working through me..I was being interrupted. Yes, I enjoyed and could tell that I was doing the work of God in those moments, but I continue to beat myself up about the daily "work" that didn't get done because of those interruptions. I think to Jesus's life and how many interruptions He had. In john 4:1-26 Jesus sat down at a well to take a rest and a Samaritan woman was came over to draw water. He was on his way to Galilee, and he was just taking a break, and changed that wonan's life by the conversation they had. In Luke 19, Jesus met Zacchaeus, a tax collector. He was on his way into town (goal-oriented), and noticed Zacchaeus in the tree. Jesus asked hime to climb down so he could spend some time with him.
Ministry, for Jesus, was the person standing in front of Him: the woman at the well, a tax collector, someone who needed healing, someone who had a question for him. Ministry for you and me is the same. It's the people standing in front of us: our spouse, our kids, our family, our friends, and even complete strangers.
You never know when you're doing God's work on earth. Pray daily that God can work through you. And I'll try not to get so mad at those "interruptions".
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