We Now Interrupt This Season...

If you've been reading this blog for more than five minutes, you know that I am crazy busy (but slowly calming down).  The calendar that I use includes pages where you can see the whole month on one page and then each week gets a two-page spread.  I use the month page for all of my appointments, meetings, and activities and I use the other pages for notes.  Recently, I have started carrying another item in my purse: correction tape.  A week never goes by that I don't have to change something on my calendar.  This week, it's a big something. 

One of our girls recently suffered from a seizure.  Thankfully, this seems like it may be a once-in-her-lifetime event, but it has still turned her life upside down for a season.  After trips to several doctors, everything seems to check out just fine.   All we are waiting on is an EEG which is scheduled for the end of the month.  This will give us a more accurate assessment of the likelihood of another seizure.

When we booked the appointment, the lady promised me that she would call in case there was a cancellation sooner.  Yesterday we were very blessed when the hospital called and offered us an appointment tomorrow because someone else cancelled.  We were doubly blessed because I was able to whip out the correction tape, edit my schedule for tomorrow and say yes immediately.

There are things in life that can't be changed, no matter how important the new thing may be.  Many of us can't just take a day off of work or cancel our R.S.V.P. to Aunt Mildred's 90th birthday party without dire consequences.  There are other times when we simply don't want to deal with adjusting our plans.  We become hard and unbendable simply because we don't want to be flexible. 

Am I being overdramatic?  Maybe.  How many times do you find yourself in the grocery store, wanting nothing more to get in and out, when you spot the neighbor who always want to complain about something?  You rush to the next aisle, hoping to avoid her and her whining and justify it by reminding yourself how important it is to get home quickly.  I know I've done this a time or ten.

I learned something about finding (and sometimes making) time for others.  I generally underestimate the benefit for everyone involved and overestimate how much it will inconvenience me.  I am convicted of this most often when it involves my kids or senior adults.  I am often tempted to tell my kids that I don't have time to do something like read a book or listen to their story, but when I take that moment to spend with them, I'm usually glad I did.  The same is true for chatting with the neighbor, or calling someone whom I haven't seen for a while, or listening to a story I've heard a dozen times before.  The conversation isn't always what I would have chosen, but the investment in the person is always worthwhile.

The next time you think that you're too busy, take a moment to enjoy the interruption.