The Alarm Clock
by Kathy Brown on May 12th, 2010 | 0 comments
Our kids are like alarm clocks if we listen to them. Many years ago, when my daughter was in high school, she and I were together in the car. She was chattering away about the things a teen-age girl is interested in: clothes, her next soccer game and probably her yackitty yack friends. I was not paying attention to her because the balance in my bank account was low. My mind was on my checkbook. Our mission for the day was to stock up on drug store supplies, have lunch and purchase groceries. This was before my debit card awakening, so I headed to the ATM.
As I swooped into the lane to retrieve the last bit from my stash, I muttered, “O Lord, I hope I don’t overdraw.” I rolled down my window and found in the drive-up drawer an unexpected answer to that prayer. It was a considerable wad of cash! I yelped with glee and announced, “God is so good!” My wide-eyed passenger leaned close to examine the treasure. She gasped and sighed. Without much pause, she blurted out, “But, Mom, that’s not your money! It belongs to the person ahead of you.” I was flabbergasted. In a very adult manner, I explained that they had driven off, and if we left the money it may fly away or the person behind us might get it. In my mind I vowed to donate some of it to the needy. The rest I could use wisely, most likely better than the person to whom it belonged.
That’s when the ringer began to sound. It was that annoying, oh-darn-I-have-to- get-up, buzz. The only way to get rid of it was to awaken and move out of the warm sheets, lean over, grope for that very small button that moves. Was it left of right? The dinging was so obnoxious. Push it either way, but do something. Finally . . . quiet.
The dawn broke slowly. I had failed a test of integrity. No matter what happened to that tempting little present served up on a tray, it was not mine. It took, embarrassingly enough, my young one to alert me to the God-spin I had plastered over my greed.
Yes, alarm clocks are a nuisance. They go off at the most inconvenient times.
From Proverbs 17:3: “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.”
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