Wasted

2:55 pm and I am 5 minutes early for my teeth cleaning. I grabbed a magazine and waited for my name to be called. A couple of minutes later, a woman came in with 2 small children and checked in. She stated she was really early. “No problem, we will take you in now.” I am busy answering emails and checking Facebook and realized 25 minutes later than I haven’t been called.

“Are they running late today?” “No. On time.” “My appointment was at 3 and it is almost 3:30.” The receptionist looked at her computer “Oh, a woman came in early with her 2 kids for a family cleaning so I just put them into your slot.” “What? She had the appointment after me, but you put her before me because she came in early?” “Yes, did you need to be some where?” ” WTH? “That doesn’t even make sense. I came in before she did.” “Well, sorry. I thought it would just be easier.” Easier for who? Because she had kids? Because you didn’t want to listen to her kids for 45 minutes? What? I took a deep breath and sat down before I went redhead on her.

I complained to the hygienist, to my dentist and anyone else who would listen to me that day. Heck! That week! That was over 10 years ago and it popped up, again, last night, and annoyed me all over again! Minor inconvenience, major annoyance. Ever have any of those? In the big scheme of things, doesn’t mean much. But then it does. Otherwise it wouldn’t keep percolating in your memory bank just to pop up at the strangest of moments. Do you have any memories like this? What is it all about really? Certainly not about a half hour that you can’t ever get back. We all have plenty of those. Dysfunctional family feasts. Listening to a coworker drone on about their weekend. Waiting in line at Target. Stalking old loves or enemies on Facebook. Wasted time you will never get back.

What is it really about? About not being honored? Or valued? Respected? Or being invisible to the world? That in the big scheme of things we don’t really matter? Unfortunately, that is how I felt and how stupid is that!!!

Next time a minor inconvenience causes a major annoyance ask some other quedtions. What do you need? From others? From yourself? From God? If you can’t blow it off, ask what you need to fix this in your heart. Before it gets to autoplay. It might save you from wasting another half hour getting angry or hurt about something or someone that doesn’t really matter any more. Stop wasting time you can never get back. Or at least use it for some wasted fun. Like binge watching Ugly Betty again or FB stalking those people you love to hate. JK!

Just ask God to fix that hole in your heart. Ask Him to show you what the hole is and then remove it from your memory bank. Negative pop ups are just wasted time and energy.