This Is The Stuff...

Today was one of those days.  You know the kind.  The one that makes you think you should have stayed in bed.

My schedule was pretty light.  All I needed to do was prepare my house for our Operation Christmas Child area team meeting tonight, make strawberry shortcake, get two packages ready to mail, and meet a friend for lunch.  Easy.

I wanted to get the shortcake baked early in the morning because we've had temperatures in the 90s and our house isn't air conditioned.  I headed out to get strawberries and biscuit mix but had to hit a total of five stores before I snagged both of those.

I came home, set the oven to preheat, mixed the dough, plopped clumps of it on the baking sheet, and popped it into the oven.  When the timer went off 15 minutes later I opened the over door and found the dough still white and thinned to pancake shapes.  Then I noticed the oven wasn't very warm.  I tried turning it off and starting over, but after several tries a half hour later the oven was still not hot.
I resigned myself to going back to the store to buy biscuits.

Next I began the task of wrapping two packages.  Each contained a gift and a recognition certificate.  Somehow I ended up with the certificate in each box not matching the name on the gift.  I also confused the mailing labels.  I'm grateful I figured this out before actually mailing them, but I had to cut the tape on both of them and start over.  By God's grace I was able to preserve the prepaid mailing labels.

There is a bright lining in these small annoyances, though.  I was amazed at how calm I felt in the midst of my few little hours of craziness.  I got to see the Spirit working in me in a way I wouldn't have seen without those menial trials.  It made me hum that Francesca Battistelli song, "This Is The Stuff You Use."  Because, really, it is this little stuff God uses to refine us.

Amazingly, after I returned from a relaxing lunch with my friend, the oven worked fine.  I baked what ended up being flatbread shortbread and still had the angel food cakes I bought at the grocery store for those who didn't want crispy.

And the meeting tonight went well.  A dozen team members + a 90 degree day with no air conditioning = warm fellowship.  But with my media coordinator, Pam, leading the meeting I was able to sit and listen to the banter of a team that's enjoying each other's company while making plans to bless children around the world.  Everyone brought items to fill a shoebox for a 10-14 year old boy and we took a picture of our team to put in the box.

So, in the end, it was one of those days.  You know the kind.  The one that makes you glad God gave you another day to enjoy His grace.