This Mama operates like clockwork on most days. I schedule myself back to back, leaving little room for margin. Margin means more time to get more done. I am a to-do list oriented Type A personality that attacks each day with a plan and purpose. If I can crash into bed having checked off many tasks on my to-do list, it's been a good day! Fulfilling and exhausting all at the same time.
Even though my long to-do lists are generally serving others, this Jesus-Girl can often miss those moments to just breathe in God. My mind and heart are always three steps ahead of my feet; calculating my next move for precision. Last week, our very creative God interrupted my to-do list and wrote His own to-do list for my day. He sent me a very important message, stamped with His thumbprint, and placed it in a neighbor's mailbox.
My morning had been rush, rush, rush as usual. I had just picked up my son from school and was heading home for the 20 minute "layover" before heading back out the door to pick up my daughter from her bus stop. "Mama's Mini-Van: Moving and Serving Precious Cargo." However, I hit a detour on my way home when traffic was rerouted near the schools for a car that had caught on fire. Unnerved by the drama and anticipating the delay of my daughter's bus, this Mama's anxiety began to climb. I slowly maneuvered through the detour and was finally on my way to the bus stop. What I had failed to calculate was the icy bend in our development that sent "Mama's Mini-Van" sliding out of control. After taking out a neighbor's mailbox and newspaper box, my van quickly came to a stop, sideways in the road. My first thought, "I don't have time for this!" God's thought: "I have a message for you in that mailbox and I didn't want you to miss it."
Of course, no one was home after many knocks and bangs on the door. During my frantic phone call to my husband, he gently reminded me this was not a crime scene, therefore I was permitted to leave and head to the bus stop for Jillian. She did not have to be stranded at the bus stop, causing a dramatic meltdown; I was enough for him to handle at the moment--no need for more "casualties". He would meet me back at the neighbor's house to assess and begin the mailbox restoration process. In all of God's grace, Mama's van was not damaged; just her pride......and her to-do list.
Between the bus stop and our ride back to the destroyed mailbox, I was able to have a conversation with my children that was part of God's message in that mailbox. I did not want to return to our neighbor's house; I was embarrassed. My kids were able to hear my heart and then see me do the hard things. Take responsibility when its easier to walk away. In that window of time, our neighbor had arrived home to the large skid mark that removed part of her yard, two flattened poles, and the mailbox laying haphazardly in her driveway. As I (profusely) apologized and my husband made plans to restore her property, our neighbor's words caught me off guard--"That was very nice of you to come back." Nice? She wasn't expecting anyone to return and take ownership of the destruction. I could have ignored the consequences of my actions and thus would have met her expectations. How sad that that mindset is the norm in our society. We were able to show her a different set of standards that are lived by. Her mailbox held more than just mail that day. God delivered both of us a message in that mailbox.
My to-do list that day certainly was not to collect "mail" from God in our neighbor's mailbox. But our creative God used that "detour" to speak to me, to my children, and to my neighbor. My children witnessed Mama doing hard things as the Bible commands us to do. My hubbie was able to come to my rescue; a much needed opportunity for our marriage. My neighbor was able to see faith in action; a contrast to the world's mode of operation. I'd say God's to-do list held much more valuable tasks than mine did. God used a mailbox to deliver much more than mail to this Jesus-Girl.....
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