“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
Isn’t it easy to have a great day when circumstances are in our favor? And it seems natural to be having a rough day when circumstances are not what we prefer. Sometimes I catch myself wanting to have a moment of complaint because a circumstance wasn’t what I wanted, and in my heart, I’m wondering why I feel compelled to share the negatives and ignore the positives in life. There are phrases we use in society that are so accepted without question that I find myself using them automatically, even when they don’t apply! Perhaps because they garner the most sympathetic response from the listener… phrases such as: “Thank goodness it’s Friday.” “I can’t wait for the weekend.” “I hate Monday.” “I’m okay, but…” “I’ve been better.” “I’m here.” “I survived.” And on and on the list goes. I have to ask myself, are these sayings representing me and my Savior positively or negatively? Just because being negative about life is now an accepted norm in society doesn’t mean I need to jump on that train and ride it all the way to the station.
The day was staring out fresh and beautiful. I was in Bellevue, Washington for a conference and very happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest, even if only for a day. The journey to Bellevue had proven much more eventful than I prefer the day prior, and I was ready for this day’s new beginning. The morning saw a writing project get completed, a wonderful walk from my hotel to the conference hotel in the rain, several successful networking meetings, progress on an article in the process of being published, a poster presentation given, and an amazing afternoon of adventuring around Seattle with new friends. Emotionally, I was on top of the world after a day of progress, smiles, and laughter. Circumstances were delightful. Until we got back to the conference hotel.
As the Uber was dropping us off, a policeman was trying to move on the cars waiting near the entrance to make way for an ambulance. He bumped into me as I was stepping out of the car and I got very flustered, feeling like I need to rush to get out of the way. I got six steps away from the Uber and realized my phone was not on my person. It would seem I had left it in the Uber. I turned around, confident I could catch the Uber and retrieve my phone but there was no Uber in sight. It would appear the policeman was very effective in his task of moving on the loitering cars. The Uber had vanished. I couldn’t even live out a movie scene and chase him down. Oh boy. Circumstances were suddenly no longer sunshine and unicorns. One of my new friends let me borrow her phone to try to log in to my Uber account and contact the driver. Except, you know how these days we have extra security on our devices, that two-step verification process? It’s very hard to complete when you don’t have your phone and can’t remember your email password. She offered to wait in the hotel lobby while I hoofed it back to my hotel to get my computer and mentioned using it to track the phone on Find My. What a great idea! Trying to not be flustered, but feeling pressure from having a lovely young lady waiting on me, I rushed back to my hotel and to my room – only to have my room key not work. I stared at it for a whole New York Minute and admit that I tried it four times, just to be sure it wasn’t user error. Back to the lobby I went to have my key fixed where the very nice desk lady, who lives at a very different life pace than I do – exponentially slower that is – got me a new key. Wonderful!
It turns out there is no way to get in contact with an Uber driver once the ride ends. Not good. Desperate for real help, I ordered an Uber ride from the conference hotel to my hotel so that I could ask the driver what to do. He was a gem! He showed me how it works on the driver side and told me there is a way to chat with Uber. That was a $20 ride well spent. Armed with this information, I googled and googled until I finally found the hidden chat page! It had been almost three hours at this point since the Uber had vanished into the night. After much back-and-forth with the Uber chat, I learned that the driver had checked his car as soon as I sent the first notification, and my phone wasn’t there. They just didn’t notify me of his answer. All of a sudden, a lightbulb lit up in my mind – Find My! That’s what I was going to use when I first went to get my computer from the other hotel, but in the time it took me to walk there I had forgotten all about it! Turns out…. After three hours of madness…. It was with the hotel concierge that whole time. It had fallen out of the car as I jumped out.
The story doesn’t end there, though that was quite enough frustration for me for one day. My new friend had missed dinner because she was helping me, so we ordered Grub Hub from a nearby place and paid for it to be express delivered in 15-20 minutes. It arrived an hour later. We parted ways for the night, both flying out the next day having spent the last few hours giggling, outright laughing, and creating fun memories rather than stressful ones. We had shared stories and insights with each other and laughed at the outrageous realization that the phone was nearby. I walked back to my hotel, phone in hand, very ready to go to bed, knowing I had to be up by 4am to catch my flight. When I got to the hotel, the entire block was dark. They had experienced another power outage. The front desk staff informed me it wasn’t expected to be back on until noon the next day. I had a little dilemma… my phone only had 3% battery left. What to do? Do I walk back to the conference hotel and hang out in the lobby while it charged enough for the alarm to go off at 4am? Do I walk to a nearby coffee shop or restaurant where I could charge it for a while? In the end, the only logical conclusion was to use the remaining 3% to change my flight and catch an Uber. I could charge it at the airport and catch a red-eye flight home. Better than sleeping in and missing a flight. With the clock ticking on how long that final 3% would last, I ran up the several flights of stairs and threw my things in the suitcase via the phone flashlight. With great relief, I was picked up by Uber with 1% battery left! I reached into my bag for my charger and realized it was in the suitcase, now in the back of the car, and inaccessible. The driver was a very lovely young man who unplugged his own phone from his own charger and let me use it for the drive. Ahhhh I do appreciate kind people.
That day, throughout the madness of losing the phone and the power being out again at the hotel, I’m glad I maintained an attitude of joy. There were ample opportunities to express frustration to and at those around me, but what would that accomplish? Nothing positive! In those moments, I couldn’t control anything but myself. And so, I made a point to try to be extra kind to everyone with whom I interacted, and to make them smile and laugh. I tried to represent my Savior in a manner that would be pleasing to Him and at the least would not repel those with whom I was interacting from Him.
Here’s the thing, we cannot control the majority of our circumstances. Things go wrong. It’s part of life. But we absolutely can control our outlook on it all. We get to choose between being stressed, frantic, upset, and angry or hopeful, calm, kind, and joyful. Our behavior toward other people is not a reflection of them, it is a reflection of us and of our Savior. Everything I do adds to my testimony and reputation with other people.
One time, I failed miserably at handling an unexpected and unpleasant circumstance and my failure is burned in my mind’s eye. It was my first Texas fiddle competition. I’m learning a new style of playing – it’s like being a beginner all over again, except I’m middle-aged, not ten. When the time came to warm up with the guitar players, two of whom I didn’t know and one of whom was my fiddle teacher – I swiftly learned that the warmup happened in front of passerby’s and other players, right out in the open where everyone could hear if they wanted. As a person who detests attention, I became very anxious and overwhelmed. I was standing there trying to make it through a song I had just learned in front of men I didn’t know and began to unravel emotionally. On top of that, there were several other men who were contestants that were standing near watching me warm up unabashedly. I had no idea this was the normal culture and environment of these events. In the end, I lost my composure completely and had to go to the back of the building so I could cry and hyperventilate until I regained my composure. People kept trying to be encouraging and tell me I would do fine and to relax, and it only fed into my negative mindset. I just wanted the attention to go away! The actual competition was, in fact, not embarrassing. I’m used to being on stage, I’m not used to people standing three feet away and watching. Later, my teacher told me I was the tip of a tornado – you know, where it touches the ground and leaves a patch of destruction. He said it in good humor, but I was ashamed. My circumstances should have dictated my behavior.
That evening, I did not represent my Savior well. Instead of being an example of kindness and love, I was self-centered and emotionally out of control. Instead of intentionally being a light for Christ, I was a picture of chaos. Chaos doesn’t inspire others to want my Christianity, to feel that I have a peace that passes understanding that they need. That I have a purpose bigger than me that leads me to rejoice even in circumstances I don’t prefer or enjoy.
For Christians, there is a wonderful principle that applies perfectly to dealing with circumstances, good or bad, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) No matter what happens in our day, we can choose to rejoice in it. In I Thessalonians 5:18, Paul instructs Christians: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” He does say to give thanks FOR everything, he says to give thanks IN everything. No matter how frustrating the circumstance, we have reason to give thanks and rejoice. We are saved by grace, we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and wants good for us, we are alive and able to tell others of Christ’s goodness and love, the reasons to give thanks and rejoice go on and on.
Today, let’s choose to respond to circumstances by giving thanks in the circumstance and by choosing an attitude of rejoicing.
