Day 43

 

God Loves You and has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life

 

"Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife."

 

Proverbs 21:19

 

 

It was 1:00 a.m. and my pregnant wife woke me up and told me she was hungry. She was on steroids after the heart transplant, so being hungry was not unusual. What was unusual was her request for the food she wanted. She was craving chocolate French silk pie.

 

I told her it might be a while before I could make a chocolate French silk pie, since I didn't have the recipe. I was even contemplating singing MacArthur Park like Richard Harris and warbling out, "I don't think that I can take it because it took so long to bake it and I'll never have that recipe again. Oh no, oh no." For once I kept my mouth shut but still I was warned not to be a smart aleck and to get my clothes on and go to the store and buy a chocolate French silk pie from the frozen food section. It doesn't pay to get a pregnant woman on steroids angry, so I got dressed and headed for the store.

 

In Houston, Texas a store parking lot at 1 in the morning is often times not the safest place to be. I was cautious as I parked my car and headed for the store door. I had only taken a few steps when I saw 2 rather large young men headed my direction. I thought, "Oh great. No good deed goes unpunished."

 

I braced myself for the confrontation. I made a fist with my keys poking out between my fingers. I figured if it came to blows I would pop in one quick one then run like crazy. (Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, run like a cheetah).

 

I held my ground as they approached. They stopped right in front of me and one of them said, "Do you want to hear the good news?"

 

I thought, "What good news? Are you just going to rob me, not kill me?" That is what I thought, but what I said was, "What good news?"

 

The reply was, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life."

 

A wave of relief washed over me. I told them, "You have no idea how aware I am of that at this very moment."

 

I was at the store in the middle of the night because my pregnant wife had a craving and was on steroids and I didn't want to make her mad. She was good natured usually with just a bit of a temper but on steroids it could get rather unpleasant. She would get really mad and then really sad that she had not been able to control her emotions.  She hated being that way, to have little control over her anger. I tried to be understanding, knowing the cause, but it could get real old real quick.

 

I have heard some women say with seeming pride, "when Momma ain't happy; nobody is happy." Maybe the mean it innocently enough but I don't find it amusing. All of us, men and women, need to control our anger, not be controlled by it and certainly not make others miserable simply because we are miserable.

 

Solomon had enough wives that he was bound to have 1 or 2 that were angry women. Perhaps they were angry because there was so many wives. In his great wisdom he says he would rather live in a desert than with an ill tempered wife. I'm sure wives feel the same way about ill tempered husbands. Maybe that is why so many people live in Phoenix. Whether you are a man or a woman it isn't funny making other people miserable because you are an angry person.

 

A Special Note on the Medicinal Quality of MacArthur Park as sung by Richard Harris:

 

If you are having a bad day, battling depression and just need something to pick you up and brighten your day then listen to Richard Harris sing MacArthur Park. Your depression will melt away as he sings of how depressed he is because "someone left the cake out in the rain" and the "sweet green icing is flowing down." So take heart and rejoice because as bad as your live may be at least you are not Richard Harris singing the worst song ever recorded.

 

Physicians warning: Repeated listening to MacArthur Park  can lead to blurred vision and loss of cognitive skills.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Jeremiah 29:11-14

 

• What kind of plans did God have for Israel?
• What was Israel's response supposed to be when God carried out his plan?
• When we seek God with all our hearts what happens?