Friday, July 23, 2010

Wrong side of the bed...


"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed,
The wrong side of the room,
The wrong side of the world
Can't put my finger on the mood.
It's not melancholy, anger or the blues.
I love my husband, my house, my job.
Couldn't be any better, and really what else is there?
Then I realize I'm forgetting God,
and that's the root of all my misery.
Lord, first of all, how is it between You and me?



How is it between us? How is it between us?
When did I talk to You last,
and what has happened since?"

       - "How Is It Between Us" by Sara Groves

This pretty much described my day. Well it actually started last night when I got the pager at 10pm from Sarah because we were expecting an arrival early, early this morning on my duty day. I was annoyed to have the pager early instead of at 8am this morning, especially when Gabriella told me that the arrival wasn't actually coming in until the afternoon.

This morning's crew-wide devotions were optional, and so I set my alarm for 7:40 to be at work at 8am. I hit the snooze and when I finally dragged myself out of bed it was 7:55... OK, I can still make it. And then at 8:01 the pager goes off... two crew members needing to check out. I get to their room and by the time I check it out it's 8:20. As I drop off their linens in the laundry room the pager goes off again... this time with a text page from Gabriella asking where I was and if I was coming into work... great.

The whole morning was awful. There was too much work to do, a ton of cabins to clean, and way too many tablecloths to press in preparation for the end-of-outreach thank you function next Wednesday afternoon.  And I was tired, stressed, and mad that I seemed to be the only one actually working hard to get everything finished before the weekend. I didn't want to be on duty and didn't want to have to deal with two walk-on arrivals. With walk-ons, we don't know when they're coming and as soon as Reception pages me, I have about 8 minutes while they're getting ID badges and room keys to get dressed in my uniform and set a table with lemonade and cookies. And if you get the page while you're in an aft deck 7 cabin cleaning the shower, then you really have to hustle...

Kathy is such a moderating influence in the department and when she's in the office it cuts down a lot on the slacking, the pushing off work, the complaining, and the sitting around waiting to be told what to do next. But Kathy took yesterday afternoon and today off so she could finally go to Ghana with some others. We sorely missed her. At one point I almost blew up at one of the other girls and decided it would be better for everyone if I cleaned the next cabin alone.

I was really wondering what was making the day so horrible... granted, neither Sarah, Caitlin, nor Gabriella wanted to be at work today. We all had fun plans for the weekend. Sarah was feeling really badly. Caitlin was anxious about the burn she got from the muffler of a moped taxi she rode last week. And Gabriella was still rather asleep! But then I heard this Sara Groves song on my MP3 player and just had to stop for a moment.

How is it between us?


You know, I really could ask myself that about a lot of relationships? How is it between my cabinmates and me? My co-workers and me? My parents and me? My brothers and me? My friends from home and me? My friends from school and me?

How is it between God and me?

And that question must be answered every day. You cannot store up devotions for a rainy day. You cannot work ahead. You can't cram them all in so you don't have to worry about it for a while.

And that is so unlike my work ethic. I'm all about storing up time by working ahead and doing things efficiently so that you don't have to do the same chores every day. I like to know what's expected in the days ahead and  be able to plan for things before they happen... and spending quality time with God is SO not like that...

So I ask you... how is it between you and God?

1 comment:

  1. Kate, you've hit it. It really isn't all about me; it's about others...and God. I feel like you're sitting here in the rocking chair, just talking to me. Thanks for being translucent.

    ReplyDelete