NOT NOW!

I am having a difficult time with a work colleague at the moment.  This morning, I am sad to say, things reached boiling point.

My day looked particularly busy and so, I arrived at the office extra early, I had a few “5 minute” jobs to do.  It was then that my colleague decided to play up.  It decided now was a good time to install Windows 10 update.  Not a small update but the full blown, long winded, time consuming update (yes, my colleague is my computer!).

What should have been a quick job looked as though it would now take much much longer than anticipated.

I know, it is one of the greatest mysteries of life that quick jobs always take longer than the time allocated to them.  But, I am busy, this isn’t fair, why choose this moment to really cause me problems?

I ranted and raved – thankfully nobody else was in the building at the time!

I threatened the computer “next time I will get a Mac!”

Nothing I tried seemed to make it go quicker. 

Then I hit upon my best idea yet, I prayed.  I laid hands on my computer and, in my most pious of voices, I prayed “oh Lord make this go quicker”.  Even my praying didn’t seem to achieve much!

Finally, in exasperation, I thought “oh well, if I cannot do anything useful, I may as well have my quiet time.”  It was then, that I felt God suddenly pull me up short.  As I prayed, I felt God gave me a picture of a navigational compass and these words;

Set your compass and turn to the North                                                                                   Make God your focus                                                                                                                       Your aim                                                                                                                                           Your destination                                                                                                                               Keep your eyes on Him                                                                                                                           Focus                                                                                                                                                   And He will lead you

And, as I turned to the Bible, I read some familiar words from Jesus;

No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.                                                                                                              (John 15 vs. 4)

 I began to realise that, in my panic and stress about what I had to do, I had taken my focus off the one I was supposed to be doing it for! 

Yes, what I had planned for the day and the challenges ahead were good things and, I believe, they were God things but without keeping my focus on God I was in danger of drifting off in the wrong direction.

As my panic eased (okay, the computer still was not behaving itself!) I was able, in my heart, to put God in His rightful place and me in mine.  A friend then shared this tweet from Eugene Peterson;

The task is not to get God to do something I think needs to be done, but to become aware of what God is doing so that I can participate in it                                                                  (Eugene Peterson)