I Beat Jeff! (I think); Real Title: Habits

I'm sure my title conjures up lots of thoughts, but my meaning is I beat him to the blog! I've had something to talk about for quite a while, but Jeff has continually beaten me to the punch. I think I'll finally be able to say my piece, because I know how he thinks! He repainted the bathroom last night, and I'm sure he'll want to share it with all of our adoring fans. However, the bathroom isn't complete, so I think he's waiting until the finished product to reveal the latest renovation.

Now, about my recent experience. I must confess I have a habit that is turning out to be quite time consuming. In fact, it has cost me precious minutes on several occasions. You see, I like to follow people. No, I'm not a stalker. It's just something I find myself doing without even thinking. First example: My friend Abbie (yes, it is fun to have a friend with your name; sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself), and I were on our way to my house when we came upon stalled traffic. What do I do? Follow the cars in front of me on a detour. Unfortunately, I didn't happen to ask these people where they planned to go, and even more unfortunately, it wasn't the place I wanted to go! After Abbie (her - not me) finally realized what I was doing, it was too late. We were hopelessly lost. After about thirty minutes or so, we made it back to a road I recognized.

You think I would have learned from this, but just about two weeks ago, I ran upon some traffic resulting from an attempt to clean up after the recent tornadoes. Without a second thought, I followed a beat up Ford truck as it veered to the right. Actually, I followed him all the way to his destination (his home). Again, I found myself utterly lost, and this time it was worse, I was running late to meet someone AND I was alone. Somehow things aren't quite as funny in this situation.

How often does that happen to us in life? We have a game plan, we'll know where we're going, we're on our way there, then -without even thinking- we head in a different direction. Sometimes things are learned, lost, or delayed because of our choices. I wonder how many times God is watching us and thinking, "Didn't she have a plan? Didn't he just ask me for guidance on Tuesday?" Yet we get distracted and lose focus of the task at hand.

Neither "short cut" proved beneficial to me. I would love to say I've been reformed, and I truly desire it. However, there's certainly a reason He's God and we're not! Thank goodness He's there when I decide to come back to where I needed to be -and headed - before I left.