Those on My Path

I am trying to turn over a new leaf regarding people who disrupt my routine by popping up on my life's path. I am usually very flexible when it comes to jobs, tasks, even life itself. But when I am home, and trying to do things in limited chunks of time, I find myself a bit irritable and abrupt with some phone calls or folks who stop by.

I rarely, if ever, pop in on someone unannounced, and I tend to resent it when someone does that to me. At those times, no matter how important the reason for the unexpected visit at the door, I tend to take on a "poor me" or "I'm really busy, can't you see?" attitude.

The same thing happens to me with phone calls. Now with the phone calls, I really have more control. I have Caller ID these days, so there's no reason for me to even pick up the phone if I don't want to. My answering machine will grab the message and I can call back at a more convenient time for me. So it is even worse when I pick it up and become annoyed with the person at the other end for disrupting me.

Today, I tried to change that. I just had a neighbor ring my doorbell (6 pm) and I didn't really want to answer it, but I suspected it was the 81 yr old across from me and he had just come home from a 10 mile drive from his full-time job. I have tried and tried to get him to call me first, before he comes over. If I were in the shower, or in one of the rooms where I cannot hear the bell, he'd be making a wasted effort dragging his poor old bod up my steps. I worry about that even more than about the interruption sometimes.

Anyhow, he had apparently been to the store before he came home, and I'm so glad I answered the door with a smile tonight instead of one of my usual "what do you want" looks of annoyance on my face. The little sweetheart had a dozen glazed donuts and was splitting them with me and waited while I made the split and gave him his half back. I really shouldn't be eating those, but he tries so hard to do nice things for us, so I froze them immediately and will eat them off and on.

Earlier, I had a phone call and Caller ID showed a local number and a personal, not a business name. I suspected it was someone in our mobile home community. I have been the volunteer newsletter editor for over 8 years, and folks tend to think I am part of the staff, so I often receive a lot of annoying calls that should go directly to the community office. Remember my resolve for the day, I picked it up and it was, as I thought, about office business. I took the time to explain, in a more pleasant way than I usually do, that he needed to call the office, and I gave the phone number. He apologized for bothering me, and we hung up, both of us in good spirits.

So, tonight, at least, I remembered in time. I hope I can continue this way. The way I see it, if someone pops up, or calls, it very possibly is someone the Lord trusts me to help in some way, even if it's just to be the one pleasant person they run into that day. Surely, I can do that much?

Father, thank you for trusting me to help whoever you place on my path, and please forgive me for the times I have been impatient with these folks.