Yesterday was a different day. The plan was reasonably simple. As it was a Tuesday, I had a standing appointment with my best friend for coffee and praying for our families. In the evening we had planned a family Murder Mystey dinner to celebrate my daughter-in-laws Birthday. A Tuesday evening was not ideal - a weekend would have been much better - but it was the only day close enough to her birthday that we could all make it. We had decided to start early - 6pm- which meant that those husbasnds who worked in the city would have to rush home. I told my best friend that I had a lot of things to prepare (including a peppermint crisp pudding for desert) and I would only come to her for an hour between 3pm and 4pm.
After work (I work at a high school and we are writing exams so I got to get out of the gate soon after 2) I quickly made a detour to "Showbiz" where I planned to buy some stick on moustaches and a pith helmet for our Murder Mystery.
As I was driving, my cell phone rang. I try not to talk on the phone while I'm driving so I let it take a message. When I had parked at Cresta, I listened to it. It was Lois, a lady who had been a judge when I had organised our school's Science Expo. The arrangement had been that she would judge our Expo and I would come and help judge at her school's Science Expo.
"Just wanted to confirm for this afternoon" the voice message blared at me. In the stress of our Expo, where one judge hadn't pitched and I'd had to do collateral damage control, I had omitted to transfer the details into my cell phone's calender and subsequently had totally forgotton it.
I phoned her back, established that they did really need me, and changed plans.
I prayed that I would not stress. I repeated to myself a modified line I had once come across of psalm 23. "The Lord is my Pacesetter, I shall not rush." As the traffic continued to crawl down Jan Smuts Avenue, and the time continued to race beyond the starting time, I continued to recite the line to myself.
I was only 15 minutes late for the Expo and they had barely started. I managed to enjoy interacting with the students and being amazed at what they had come up with. I had been told that I could prabably be gone by 6, even though the Expo continued till 7 but at 6 o' clock we stil had four projects to judge. The last one turned out to be the best of the batch. It was very inspiring, but I had to excuse myself and rush away. I figured if traffic was reasonable, I could still be home at quarter to seven and change into my character before everybody came at seven. Then I remembered. We had agreed we would start at six. I had to stop myself from breaking the speed limit and jumping robots. There was nothing I could doa about my lateness, I was going as fast as I could.
The family were wonderful. The peppemint crisp tart was delicious. The table was set and the diningroom decorated to suit the theme. Everybody was understanding and we had a great evening. Although I would not like to make a habit of arriving late for my own organised dinner, it did show me that I was not indispensible and any old person could make a peppermint pudding. Quite often stress and the rushing syndrome is all in our minds. We would do well to remember that God controlls the universe. time is in His hand and He has plenty of it.
"The Lord is my pace setter. I shall not rush."
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