A Lesson in Humility & Patience

It's been an eventful day around here and it's only just after 2 pm. I got a phone call this morning from the Missouri Sec of State's office saying all but one of our documents is able to be apostilled. Can you guess which one was invalid? Yep. The bank letter. The notary left off some detail and so it's going to be sent back to us incomplete. Which means another trip to the bank sometime next week to try again. A lesson in patience.

So if it's not enough to have a reputation at the bank for being troublesome, we can now add our local trash service. Last week when I went to get the mail I noticed everyone's trash had been collected but ours. I came in and tried to find the contact information for the company, was unsuccessful and then quickly distracted by other tasks. Fast forward another week later, to today. We now have 2 weeks of trash out on our curb and I am waiting by the window for the truck. Sure enough, they get to our house, pause, the man hanging off the back shakes his head no and they start to drive on.

Immediately, I rush down the stairs and out the door and down the street. Wet hair from the shower, no makeup. "Excuse me, why won't yall pick up our trash?" I yell as I get closer. The man who hangs off the back shakes his head again and walks slowly toward me as I am running in his direction. "You don't have service." He even gets on his walkie talkie and confirms that indeed, our address is "no good". "What? Surely we pay for service. We pay a million other bills for water, electricity, phone, mortgage. We don't have extra money lying around and you have been picking up our trash for the 10 months we've lived here." "Sorry, lady."

So I head back to the house, haul our two weeks of trash back to the garage and go inside to sign up for service. Next Thursday they will have their hands full with three weeks of waste from our family. A lesson in humility.

I've been convicted since this incident in the manner in which I conducted myself with the trash guy and with the bank lady. In one case I was in the right and the other case I was in the wrong. But regardless, I should have presented myself and my case with the light of Christ, with humility and love for others above myself, my circumstances and my needs. It looks like I will have a chance to rectify my dealings with the bank lady when I return next week and I just may have to chase down my trash guy next week with an apology. Thank you, Lord, for teaching me humility and patience.