The P Word

Are you wondering what the P word is? Could stand for a lot of different things.
Let's see...promise, pretty, power, pleasing, polish, pizza,(since I live in Italy) pain...

Well it could stand for pain because I have been in a lot of it lately. For the past week my back has been so bad I can barely sleep at night. We think a disk slipped a bit because something is puffed up and something else is slanting. Fun stuff. The heating pad and some medicine have been my companions the past week! Can't wait for the rainy weather to go away!! Jim's ankle is always painful when this kind of weather comes around so I don't think it would be a good time to call and ask us to help you move!!

Ok-back to the

Do you ever have those days where you are prayed up, read up, and just all around you feel at peace in your heart and nothing major is going wrong. Of course for me, it's very easy to fall into the "check list trap" as I call it:

Read my bible.....check
prayed....check
spoke nicely to Mr Lovey....check (yes I have decided to change the names to protect - myself the innocent)
cleaned the house....check

And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you find yourself smack in the middle of something unexpectant. This was a scene from the Lovey's the other day:

Mrs Lovey was at her computer computing away when suddenly a notice appeared with a warning that something had gone array. "What" Mrs Lovey screamed.."how could that be? I am so careful about what is allowed on my computer. What do you mean there is a virus on this computer? Surely there must be a mistake." Well, Mrs. Lovey rambled and scrambled about trying with all her might to 'fix it' on her own so as not to disturb Mr. Lovey about such a problem. After all, Mrs Lovey did not want to get a lecture about being sure to update her computer, making sure there is a virus protection on it etc. You see, not long ago, Mrs Lovey decided that her virus protection program made her computer too slow so she decided to uninstall it...Mr Lovey wasn't happy about that! Well, nothing was working so Mrs Lovey had to go to Mr Lovey's room office and tell him about the problem. Mr. Lovey gave her one of those looks-you know the kind most Loveys like to give when they know they were right and you were wrong-to her computer he went, fiddling and faddling, saying a couple things that she really didn't understand or even try to understand. After a short while, Mrs Lovey began to get a real bad case of the 'impatience' The tell tale signs were there..worming and squirming, looking over Mr Lovey's shoulders telling him that she could take things from there and that she probably knew a little more about fixing this than he did -all because she didn't have the "P" word! She started pacing around a bit more, her cheeks were getting flustered with aggrevation until there was a warm feeling inside, not a warm fuzzy feeling, but a reddish sense-maybe the color of anger, started welling up inside because this was happening TO HER!! Why was it happening to her!!! After all, Mrs Lovey didn't go to yucky sites, didn't download illegal things, didn't do any of the things that would cause a virus in her little ole computer. Well, Mr. Lovey lovingly fixed her computer, although he might have hinted a time or two that she was very impatient...hmm....

A little later in the evening, Mrs Lovey went to lay her head on her pillow and get a good night's rest. While trying to sleep, the "P" word kept being repeated over and over in her mind until she had to finally say "Lord, I have no patience...I really am not good at this whole patience thing'. Mrs Lovey can have patience for big things, but is realizing that it is in the small things, the unexpectant things that seem to come from space that patience is lacking. Reaction rather than prayer, words rather than silence. When things don't go the way she planned or a little glitch comes along she has a hard time exercising patience. Then, Mrs Lovey started realizing how pride can come into play in all this. When we have checked off our check list it is so easy to think that we will have some smooth sailing or if anything does come our way, we are ready for it. We did everything we were supposed to do and didn't do the things we weren't supposed to do so why are these things happening!!!!

Perhaps they happen because God wants to use them to show us things in our lives that need some working on! We pray often to be conformed to His image, to be more and more like Him. These types of things are what He chooses to use in our lives to answer those prayers. He doesn't want us to be content with where we are in our walk with Him. He wants to challenge us more and more to let go of things, to make changes in our lives.

I love the scripture in James 1:4 Let patience have its perfect work. The word 'let' reminds me that it is a choice. I have to choose to let patience be in my life. Daily, moment by moment, when the strange and weird things come my way,,,let patience work in me!

I hear the Loveys are doing well. Mr. Lovey is back to his office and Mrs Lovey is computing away on her updated, viral free computer. There was a great blessing in store for Mrs Lovey in the end but that will have to wait for another post because there is a story behind that too -albeit a good one! Isn't it amazing that someone like Mrs Lovey could be so blessed after being so ...well....kind of sort of mean?