Silencing the Voices

Philippians 4:6-9
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be mad known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

My Plans…
6:00 – wake up
7:00 – head out to get coffee and spend some time reading/studying for devotions
8:00 – go to the store to get the items for school that I forgot to get last night and drop them off at my daughter’s school
8:30 – head to the office to get some work done before meeting with staff

My Reality…
6:00 – stumble down the hall to wake up 17 year-old daughter
6:01 – return to bed with the alarm reset for 6:30
6:30 – stumble down the hall to reawaken my 17 year-old daughter
8:00 – leave the house, no time for devotions, head to the store
8:30 – leave the store after spending 30 minutes texting back and forth with my daughter to make sure I am buying the right stuff.
8:35 – realize I forgot to put dinner in the crockpot. U-turn from taking the items to school and stop at the house to throw a pot-roast in the crockpot
8:45 – head to my daughter’s school
8:46 – realize I forgot my lap top and proceed to U-turn
8:50 – leave the house again and head to her school
9:00 – arrive at her school and drive up and down the parking lot to find her car
9:04 – find her car and realize I didn’t bring keys U-turn and head home
9:15 – leave the house (again) and head for the school
9:25 – arrive at school and leave the items in her car
9:26 - Begin lamenting about my morning…not only did I miss my coffee, miss my devotional time, use up precious gas, but I am now late for the office…I didn’t get to spend the morning as I planned. I spent the morning running around and now I feel frazzled, hurried, rushed, and pressured.

So, I did it again. I made a U-turn.

I decided to not go down the road where the voices were loud, where I was being taunted. I decided not to travel with the sounds that told me I had failed. That I had been lazy, sluggish, and unfocused, I decided not to pay attention to the accusations that I had caused the morning to go badly. While they were technically accurate, listening to them was NOT productive. So, I decided to U-turn and go down another road. I went to the coffee house. I got out Crazy Love and read my chapter. I got out my Bible and read through some verses I am trying to memorize and most importantly I silenced the voices – the ones that were telling me I had ruined my day, that I was late and wouldn’t be able to catch up, and instead I filled my mind with Romans 8:28 and Jeremiah 29:11 and Proverbs 3:5, 6 and Romans 12:1-2 and I reread Jackie’s post about Showering with the Apostle Paul.

And I realized that while I had made poor choices and got myself into a bad morning I did not have to stay there. I could choose to listen to God’s words – or my own negative self-condemnation. And today, I chose to “renew my mind.” Best day EVER! (Ok, well maybe not the best day ever, but it was certainly better than it started out!)