Unexpected Gifts

This morning, I was getting the kids ready for school, running through the things I had to do, and saw my Advent Devotional and Bible sitting on my coffee table next to the couch where I normally spend my quiet time. I thought to myself, “I wish I didn’t have so much to do today so I could just sit and read, pray, and have some quiet time with God.” When I arrived at my daughter’s school, she remembered that she had forgotten her project…due today. Oh yeah, and her lunch too. For some people, not a big deal, (“Just buy lunch today honey!”), but for us, because of special diet restrictions, it meant a trip back home for her lunch (and project while I was at it). So I dropped her off, turned around and headed home, sort of wondering to myself if maybe I had my priorities all wrong today. I got home, grabbed what I needed, and then headed back to school. But instead of heading straight there, I took a detour to Starbucks. After getting back into my car with my favorite coffee beverage in hand (grande extra hot non-fat latte with one splenda), it wouldn’t start. Enter Triple A, who tells me my starter is dead, gets my car started, and sends me on my way. After leaving the project and lunch at school (leaving the car running) and arriving at the Honda dealer, I learn that I will not have transportation again until the next day. There goes that “to do” list, right out the window. Once home, sitting on the sofa with my devotional, Bible and journal, I thought, sometimes God delivers things in the most unexpected ways…freedom from a "to do" list by way of no transportation…and freedom from a life apart from Him by way of a virgin, a baby, and a manger.