You know the old adage, “All you had to do was ask…”?
Yesterday was a long day ~ a good day but a long day. I got up, like every weekday, at 5:15 and began the routine. I brushed my teeth without really opening my eyes, I let the dog out of her crate, opened the front door for her to go out, fed both dogs, started coffee, made W his lunch and saw him to his car by 6am. Ordinarily, that’s when I go and get ready for work but since there was a membership class at church (aka: work) last night that I need to organize and break down, there wasn’t an urgency to get to work by 7am. And that’s when it happened.
Okay, I have a friend coming on Wednesday, a drive to Ft. Myers on Thursday evening, out of town this weekend, bills to pay, and I need to do this, and this, and this first….my list was endless, it seemed. I dug in my heels and got started. The long and short of it is that I got it all done and I felt pretty accomplished.
That feeling was awesome right up until I came home after 9pm and the groceries that belonged in the pantry were still sitting on the counter. W had made his own steak last night and was doing his dishes and began telling me about his day but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the bags of groceries. The bags are still on the counter ~ how could this be? Did he not see them? All of this stress and angst about an undone chore got under my skin and I lost all ability to care about his day at work… or mine, for that matter.
The reality is that W had forgotten I’d gone to the store so he stopped at the grocery to buy a few things, he walked the dogs, he made dinner for himself, he was cleaning his mess and he just hadn’t gotten to the groceries yet. No big deal…but it was to me. I realized I needed to ask for some help.
Overwhelmed best describes it. Stressed.
But, you know, God is good and I spent years and years doing things my own way and not really listening to Him. Now that I have relented somewhat (He is still working on the stubborn part that’s left!), I can be on top of the stress instead of UNDER STRESS. I can compartmentalize somewhat~ not nearly as well as my husband can, but definitely better than I ever have. In a calm moment this morning, I told W that I need some help with the mundane things that have to be done every day; the laundry, the housework, the groceries, the endless “to do’s”.
Know what happened? He looked at me and said, “All you had to do was ask. I can help with those things.”
W has no idea how often he speaks simple words that hit home. All I had to do was ask. The clarity and simplicity of his words struck me this morning because our Father is the same way.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow faint or weary; there is no searching for His understanding.
He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength.
Isaiah 40:28,29
Be reminded today that all we ever have to do is ask….