Yesterday, where I live, we had one of those rare late-season “snow days”. The school buses were cancelled, and warnings were being issued all over the place advising against unnecessary travel. When I got up, there was nothing going on at all, meteorologically speaking. I was hoping that the weather warnings would end up being a non-starter, because I had four appointments that required me to be out of town for quite a bit of the day.
Within about an hour of my needed departure time, the snow started. Not quite the freezing rain and ice pellets that were forecast initially, but the news was telling me those nasty things were falling where I needed to go that morning. So I rearranged these appointments. The later one ended up needing to be rescheduled for other reasons (and the weather still wasn’t looking promising anyway). So I ended up with some “bonus” time to get caught up on other tasks.
Sometimes, we think of these interruptions as annoying inconveniences. But have you ever thought of them in a positive light?
After all, I would have preferred to accomplish what my schedule set out for me. Rescheduling is sometimes difficult and time-consuming. But I’ve learned that changes to the schedule often come with divinely guided opportunities.
For example, yesterday’s rescheduling afforded me the chance to make some phone calls I needed to make, allowing me to engage in some deep and needed conversations. Because my wife also got a “snow day”, we were able to walk up to the local Tim’s for a bowl of chili (the perfect comfort food for a yucky day) and enjoy some ‘bonus’ time. And I was able to move up a local meeting that afforded us to have a longer, deeper and more blessed conversation than time might otherwise have permitted.
So, despite the troublesomeness of needing to reschedule appointments because of the weather, there were many great things that happened as a result. God blessed me through inconvenience!
How has the Lord blessed you through inconvenience?
“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3.1).
Dr. Jeff Loach is Pastor of St. Paul’s Church, Nobleton, ON. He blogs at http://www.passionatelyhis.com/.
