I got the chance to practice what I’ve been preaching a couple of mornings ago.

You see, I was rushing out the door to a gym class and I was already going to be either right on time or late, depending on the traffic. I was a tad bit irritated when I got to the stop sign at the end of our street just in time to see a house drive by.

Yes, you read that correctly…

a HOUSE.

Have you ever seen that? A house on a tractor trailer rolling down the highway with a police escort?!

It’s not something you see everyday.

Well, I wasn’t in the mood to be in awe of a house in transit.

It was slow.

It was blocking traffic.

I couldn’t get around it.

I was late.

It was annoying.

I started grumbling to the inside of my car as though someone was listening .

“Ugh!! Seriously?!?”

The final straw was when it continued on my exact route for a few miles making me later and later. At last! I had the chance to take an alternative route, even though it might not help with saving time, and I took it. I desperately don’t like being late to this class because it requires set up and I was going to have NO time for anything.

Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.

When I was past the house, I sped up and set my sites on the gym, fussing the entire time.

I mean, who moves the house?! (that’s a rhetorical question.)

It wasn’t long until the Holy Spirit got a hold of my thoughts and reminded me that while I can’t control things around me, I can control my response to them.

It was such a small inconvenience, and whoever was moving that house must’ve had a good reason, right? I immediately started to pay attention to the road I was driving on; there were beautiful homes and long white fences lining gorgeous rolling hills. It was so lovely. I could tell that shifting my perspective from my inconvenience to the beauty around me was making a difference. I began to release the frustration from before and soon I was in good spirits.

The ordeal reminded me of a podcast I’d heard recently about inconveniences and how we view them as “lost” time. She encouraged us to think of it is “found” time; time to be grateful, to reflect and consider that there might be protection in it.

Such a simple, but good lesson. There’s always going be inconveniences, whether or not I allow them to affect my entire day is completely up to me. And I’ve decided, one day at a time, I’m going to remain grateful and make the most of all of it.

Life is too precious to spend it grumbling.