Feeling Like Cinderella

 “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And if worry cannot accomplish a little thing like that,

what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?”

Luke 12:25-26 NLT

Do you remember that one part in Cinderella when the Step-Mother has told Cinderella that she can go to the ball?  She is so elated and so very thankful until Step-Mother finishes her sentence - IF you finish your chores.  Cinderella being a good manager of her time and knowing well her tasks assures her that she will be able to do all and still attend in “something suitable to wear”.  Of course we know what happens, those few chores suddenly get put by due to the step-sisters and then Step-Mom adds on the Tapestries!!!! (but I just...Do them again!!) 

Ever have a day like that? That was my day today.  I was fixing to go home early because the boss said - if you finish up you can leave early.  I was very excited with the holiday ahead of me and knowing that my husband was at home with the day off, I was “elated and so very thankful”. Even with the IF in place I was sure I could make it to an early train.  I had everything wrapped up with a bow thirty minutes ahead of time and was doing a little extra interruptible work just waiting for the half-hour to fly by when all of a sudden step-sisters came creeping in out of nowhere.  A pile of tasks materialized in my inbox each one screaming for immediate attention and none of them willing to wait until I returned from the holiday.  As my colleague likes to say “TISNF” (That Is So Not Fair)! 

So now what? Cinderella is completely deflated.  She knows there is no way she is going to make that train...ahem...to the ball and even if she could, she has noting to wear. If Cinderella was not a fairy-tale character she probably would have thrown down her broom and declared the injustice of it all.  Or perhaps she would have continued working but all the while grudgingly and muttering distasteful things under her breath.  After all was finally finished, she would find the mice with a new dress for her and perhaps feel a little bad about the foul atmosphere she had created for herself as she sweated away at the tapestries - but what a foul mood she would have been in. I doubt the Prince would have found her very charming or lovely. Oh wait, that would have been MY reaction!  

Yes, I muttered and as much as I wanted to have a good attitude, I found myself getting more and more cranky.  Woah! What are you doing? Stop everything!  I heard that little voice say - you know the one - the Holy Spirit, whose voice sounds like a little voice but when He speaks and we listen is more like a rushing wind tearing through barriers and bindings setting us free.  And that was what he was about to do - set me free.

“Who is the Lord of All Time? Can He not, care for you?” 

Yes. Yes He can.

“Calm down.  Everything will work out. Do it for me.”

How does He do that - He knows just what to say.  Calm Down.  I was getting myself worked up into a tizzy and losing my ability to focus, concentrate and produce with excellence. Everything will work out.  So what if I miss this train.  Theres another in an hour that is still earlier than normal. And isn’t it a blessing and a gift to leave early (not a privilege or a right)?  Yes. Do it for me. That shifted my focus from the unjust creatures who had waited until the last minute to blast me with urgency and place it on my Friend - the One who helps me. The very best Friend.

So, as my sister and I like to say, the mice came.  I worked calmly through each task and a few actually ended up being delayed until after the holiday so it turned out to NOT be as bad as first thought.  Now here I am on a train which is a bit later than originally planned but earlier than usual. The work is done and I am on my way home to see my Prince.

An even deeper truth is this...

 I am clothed not is the rags that my own self efforts made but in a glorious incorruptible robe of righteousness that my Heavenly Father (not little mice or even a fairy Godmother) made for me.  And I am on my way to the Wedding feast to be with the Bridegroom!