So, last night I went to bed at about 12:30 with the knowledge that in a mere 6 hours I would need to be on my way to Washington so that I could be at work by 7. I've gotten accustomed to having about 6 or 7 hours of sleep (college will do that to you). I'm one of those people that has the wonderful gift that when my head hits the pillow at 12:30, I'm asleep by 12:32. So I'm off to dreamland.
Suddenly my ears are bursting to the sound of a loud chirping (much like that of a giant mutant cricket)! It's WAY too loud to be my alarm telling me that I should be dragging myself out of the bed, but it's so loud that getting out of the bed just kind of happens. Someone in my apartment has pulled the fire alarm. I look out the window and people are standing way too close to the building for it to actually be on fire, so I'm not in a huge rush to grab some clothes and get out, but I start heading that way. Oh, did I mention that it is 4:00 IN THE MORNING!
Taking all of these events into consideration with the sleepy haze over my mind, I decide that the best thing for me to do is get dressed and go ahead to Washington to work really early.
I have taken two naps and I am somewhat normal right now, my sleep schedule is kind of weird, but I was thinking about the events of the pre-dawn morning and I realized that there are some things in life that we cannot control. This really should be no surprise to me, but it makes a wonderful reminder of the truth about control.
So how should I handle a situation like this? During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asked the question "which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" As usual, Jesus was right...lol nothing that I could have done this morning would have changed the fact that someone (I don't really even care who) pulled the fire alarm and worrying about it wasn't going to fix anything, so if I'm not supposed to fret (some of you will say that's a Nash county word, and if so, I'm proud..lol), how am I supposed to handle this situation? That's just it, I can't change it so I can't give it head-space (complements of Bobby Garcia). My job is to get dressed, trust the purpose that God has behind making sure I'm awake at 4, and move through the day with a thankful spirit, blessed that there wasn't an actual fire and no one was hurt.
Lost in the tree balls.
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On a whim, I signed up for a 5K this week. It was a night run in the dark
and freezing cold, but the allure of running under the lights of the
Canterbury ...
2 years ago
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Wouldn't it be awesome if we could all fret less? I know my standard mode of operation is to worry about something enough until I make it go away. If I spent less time worrying about stuff I can't control, and more time controlling myself, I'd probably be a lot happier!
ReplyDeleteBut, the 4am fire alarms/drills used to kill me at ECU--especially when it was cold!!
I envy your ability to fall asleep on cue. My mind is always between here and neptune wondering about.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good reminder about control.
Reminds me of one of the first nights in Gville as a student, my smoke alarm started randomly going off at 1 am. Since its hardwired into the electricity, I shut off the breaker that runs power to the whole hallway until morning.