.

Me and my trustee sidekick Gracie (3 years old) took the list made up by Kim and headed for the local Taco Bell. Upon arriving I noticed I had a slight problem. Far as I know whenever you get food from Taco Bell you have to pay for it. That was not going to happen for me since my billfold was at the house. I jumped back in the car and drove the ten minutes home, not in too good of a mood in having to waste that time. But once I arrived I picked up my billfold, got over it and headed back.

Once I arrived again, I went around to pick up Gracie but thought to myself ‘get the list first then you won’t have to look for it while dealing with Gracie’. Well of course, I could not find it and thus began a search of the car for the much needed list, just knowing I had it. I had my door open because it was 110 in the shade but I checked and I knew it was not in the way of the space next to me.

There I am digging around my car, handing my trustee sidekick papers to hold, while getting hotter by the second inside and out. This lunch thing was not working out too good, though Gracie just smiled and looked at me while I dug in the car. Let’s say at this moment I was on edge to put it nicely.

Just as I am reaching my boiling point thinking I had lost the list; right behind me I hear the sound of a horn blaring from a car that was parking in the spot next to me. Needless to say this horn was loud, needless to say it came while my head was stuck in the floorboard of the car and needless to say when I heard it I almost jumped out of my skin.

My first admission to you is this; I was not thinking pastoral thoughts at that moment. This person had just clipped my last nerve and I was ready to explode when I looked up and watched the car pull in.

Fortunately I paused long enough to get myself together, fortunately the nice lady pulling in told me she just wanted to make sure I did not jump back into the car and fortunately just as I saw her I found my list, easing the frustration.

I survived the challenge of lunch and we all made it home safely, tacos and all. But there with a simple task came a simple test. Those test are called life.

I have found that it is not the huge moments in life that reveal to you your spiritual condition it is in the little day by day moments. It is how you handle the little nuisances of life that really give you a good indication of how you’re doing.

For example how do you handle the kids when they are not getting ready at the speed you desire? Or how do you handle the guy who cuts you off on the way to work. What is your response when someone at work just will not leave you alone? Day to day stuff, like what do you do with your husband when he forgets to bring something home from work or how do you handle your wife when she forgets to make an important phone call for you. The list is endless because our days seem endless and filled with little ‘stressors’.

Jesus asked us to ‘walk as he walked’. He did not just ask us to do that in big crisis moments but in our daily walk. As a matter of fact it is much more important how you handle your day to day issues because those are the people you regularly come in contact with. Those are the people who most need to see you walk as Jesus walked.

So how is your day going? In order to handle those little matters in the right way we need to be watering our spiritual fruit tree. To do that we need to do the three P’s: We need to find peace (quite) we need to pray (continually) and we need to make God’s word a priority.

Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

1 John 2:6, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, helps us to learn daily to lean on you. May our responses be ones that represent you will and cause us to not live a life of regret about those decisions. Also help us most of all with our relationships with those who live within our homes, those we love the most. We are thankful for your spirit that it is a daily help. We ask these things in Christ name, Amen.