This should be a day of much "weeping and gnashing of teeth" for us Tar Heel fans. Okay, well, maybe it is such a day.
The basketball-game-which-shall-not-be-named (or ever referred to again after this post), occurred last night between our beloved boys wearing God's favorite color (duh--look at the beautiful blue sky today) and a team which definitely shall-not-be-named (but their mascot is a devil--that tells you all you need to know). Suffice it to say, we learned the hard way that "it ain't over till it's over," and the ending of this game was a total catastrophe.
I can feel the blood pressure rising...time to breathe deeply and eat a piece of chocolate...
Okay, much better.
I actually went to bed before said nightmare/disaster ending. Very, very wise decision. But when I awoke early this morning, I was a bit anxious to discover the winner of the basketball-game-which-shall-not-be-named. However, I'm mighty thankful to report that I followed a habit I'm been trying to establish of not looking at my phone, email, or anything, until I first read God's Word. First, I read a chapter of James out loud (Bingley appreciated the wisdom and encouragement as well) and then today's reading from Daily Light.
I make a lot of dumb decisions, but like I said, this was a wise one. Thank You, Lord!
So after having my mind renewed--which I would soon discover I desperately and urgently needed--I opened my cell phone to discover 48 text messages, all starting at 11:12 p.m. last night. They were all from our family text message group, and let me just say, there was an overflowing abundance of weeping and gnashing of teeth among my children (and husband) as they texted back and forth. For example, "I want to cry." "I will not get over this for a long time." Or here's one exchange between them all--
"Coach K owns Roy."
"Completely owns him."
"Literally property of Coach K"
"I'm gonna spank Bingley, I'm so mad" (followed by laughing, winking smiley face--just so you don't get the wrong idea).
It went on and on from there.
Now normally, I might have been a bit grumpy over this horror of a game-which-shall-not-be-named. I take that back. Normally, I might have been downright furious, irritable, and discouraged over the awful, terrible unfairness of it all. Yes, I know, I'm a bad, bad sport and I know it. It's why I made the wise decision not to watch the game-which-shall-not-be-named right before going to bed. That wouldn't have been conducive to sleep or to a godly attitude (to put it mildly).
But this morning, instead of total frustration, I felt--could it be?--overwhelming gratitude, even joy! Why? Well, first because putting God first always realigns, corrects, and gets your thinking and your attitude right. And if we can think right, we can act right. And to do that means filling our minds with that which is the ultimate right: God's Word.
As Hannah Whitall Smith said, "If we take the words of God, His revealed truth, into our lips and eat it, that is, if we will dwell upon His words and say them over and over to ourselves and thoroughly take in and assimilate their meaning in a commonsense way, we shall find that our soul life is fed and nourished by them and is made strong and vigorous in consequence."
Oh how thankful I am every single day for God's supernatural, wisdom-giving, hope-infusing, joy-producing Word!
And secondly, I felt joy and gratitude just in seeing all those texts from this family that I love so much. Oh Father, I wanted to cry, thank You, thank You, thank You for the unutterable joy and privilege of loving and being loved! Thank You for the priceless gift of my husband and children. Thank You for the gift of laughter. Thank You for the fun of games...even when they don't go our way. Thank You for Life!
Yes, I know--in the big scheme of things, this was nothing--and I mean nothing--but a silly, ultimately unimportant basketball game. My Lord and I have been through much deeper, darker waters. But oh goodness, praise Him that He's so faithful even in our little, seemingly insignificant irritations, worries, or sorrows.
He's there with us in the ICU and cancer ward...but He's also there with us in the missed appointments, flat tires, and flunked tests. In the big and small, He's forever faithful, forever working, and forever loving, correcting, forgiving, and empowering.
Even in a blown basketball-game-which-shall-not-be-named!
And by the way, the verses from Daily Light? Here's just a few: "Sorrow will be turned into joy." (John 16:20) "I will sing of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble." (Ps.59:16) "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Ps.30:5)
And all God's people--even the Carolina fans--said "AMEN!" To God be the glory.
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