It's Just Pants

It's Just Pants!

Peggy Mack

August 17, 2013

It has been one month since I made the commitment to practice my faith by setting aside the first 30 minutes of each morning for devotions and Bible study and prayers in order to learn more and develop a private, personal, daily conversation with God.

As part of my promise to live my faith, I have been trying to make Sunday worship a part of our weekly plans.  In recent weeks I feel like I have been mutinied and was determined that tomorrow we would be in church.  The past two weeks we were not successful due to last minute issues and I felt a growing disappointment with each week.

Part of the problem was that  I had not realized we were down to one good shirt and pair of slacks for Bill and needed a new, more comfortable size.  My plan this week was to take him shopping early Saturday morning for new slacks and shirts so we could move past the last minute problems. 

We were successful in finding one pair of gorgeous slacks at Penney's.  They were more than I would spend on myself but I was focused on this goal to worship.  We drove to Tanger Mall and found, again, only one shirt but we were pleased.  On the way home,  I asked, "What is it you need to get these ready by tonight.?"  I need to wash and iron the shirt and press the slacks and I want to get my black shoes and polish them.  "Ok, I said. Great! I don't want to miss church tomorrow. We'll leave at 8!"  I knew we had made it!

Three hours later I am coloring my hair and I hear a scream...a scream from the laundry room.  "NO! No!" is all I hear from Bill.  And then I look.  He's standing at the ironing board and the new, charcoal grey, gorgeous slacks are on the board.  He looked at me.  I looked at him.  And he said, "I'll pay you."  I knew without him telling me, they'd be scorched and burned beyond salvaging.

I was heartsick in an instant......it wasn't about the money.  It was this sinking feeling that roadblocks keep being thrown in front of every effort we make to do something as simple as go to church.

In the past I would have let it escalate. Reclused myself and felt lost. That's how I deal with stressful issues, retreat and ache and finally give up.  I could not help but believe that the Devil knew me well enough to know I would do just that, give up on trying to keep my promise to go to church.

But today is different.  Today is part of my journey to being a maturing Christian and having a living relationship with Christ. I am new at it so it is a bit like having training wheels on a bicycle.  But I am still on the bike and making progress.  I will figure it out with time and practice and determination.

This morning, my friend, Dottie, had posted a devotional from Chris Tiegreen, which dealt with our natural instinct to go into a mode of panic, demanding resolution when something happens in our life, much like a boat on stormy waters that begins to bounce uncontrollably on the waves.

When that happens, we have to make a conscious choice.  We have to practice choosing to be calm when our nature is to panic.

Here's an exerpt that helped from Chris Tiegreen's devotion:

"Conformed to be Free

God’s Spirit is conforming us to the image of Christ. That means that we should be reforming from the image of the anxious people around us—that urgency and panic should be disappearing from our lives. So the question we should ask ourselves daily, or even hourly, is this: What am I worried about today? Whatever the issue, the way we deal with it will tell us volumes about what we think of God.

Christians should be people who float in the current of God’s Spirit, not bounce on the waves of circumstances. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care or that we should be lazy and irresponsible. It does mean, however, that our compassion and fruitfulness are never defined by heavy burdens and overwhelming demands.

Other people measure love and concern by the degree of anxiety and hands-on compulsions we exhibit. Jesus doesn’t, and neither should we. Sometimes the most compassionate, responsible approach is to trust and to wait. The tyranny of the telephone—the tyranny of anything, for that matter—can never be allowed to rule the Spirit who lives within us."

The words of this devotion were exactly what I needed on this day....and its message changed my way of handling life.

So, I chose to pray and I chose to talk to God about how hard I had worked to get us to church only to know that we would not make it tomorrow.  Peace came over me as I thought about what Bill's mom would tell me if she could, "That's my son, be good to him".   And I prayed the Lord's prayer and spoke the words out loud, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." And finally, the thought came to me.  This is a pair of pants....that's all it is....pants.  If you want to feel disappointment and cry, think about how you would feel if the storm you face is Bill having a stroke or heart attack.  It's just pants!

When Bill returned, he walked in with a new pair of pants from Belks!  He had left the house determined to make this right.  We ARE going to church in the morning.  He was angry at himself and I told him that learning to forgive others begins with forgiving yourself.   And I repeated to him several times, "It's just pants.  It's just pants.  You are so important to me and these are just pants."

 The ruined pants are gone, in the trash, never to be mentioned, again.  Forgiven and Forgotten.......it was "just a pair of pants".   I have Bill and Bill's love.....and a new chance to practice "floating" and not bouncing on the waves.  I have seen God working in our own home today and I am a witness to the difference God makes if we only call on Him.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you for the gift of Dottie and her willingness to share devotions and other words of encouragement with others.  I thank you for Chris Tiegreen and his message of remaining calm in a storm and training ourselves to "float" through a difficult situation.  I thank you for the time I was given to learn and live a lesson in faith.

Most of all, I thank you for my husband, Bill.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen

As a post script:  The last thing Bill said that night to me was, "I am sorry".  And I replied, "What pants?"  The next morning I woke with a new, clear understanding forgiveness is about surrendering your pain, disappointment, frustration, loss of trust to God and saying I have tried and I can not find a way to heal my heart.  Heal my heart so I am in a place of forgiveness.  When that moment comes...you experience....total peace.  Now ....who chooses to hang on to the burdens of negative thought and pain....over a total sense of peace.   I heard God whisper....and Peg, as for all your sins......the ones you asked forgiveness for....I say..."what sins!?"
I better understand God's forgiveness for all our sins.....and I am in awe and filled with gratitude.