Unexpected Interruptions: Morning Watch Mondays

This New Years Eve my wife’s family all gathered at the beach together. It had been many years since we’d all been together. We were all sitting together watching one television at a rental house, and ready to bring in the new year together… but there was a problem.

Half of the people in the room were excited to watch the ball drop in New York City to ring in 2023 with Seacrest and crew, and enjoy music and dancing along with whatever pop culture had to offer. The other half of the room were on the edge of their seats wondering how the football game we had been watching would end between two titans: Ohio State and Georgia.

As the night wore on it became obvious that both of these events were going to be concluding, in fact colliding, at the exact same time: 12 midnight! What to do? We could not watch both of these events on one TV at the same time, so the difficult call was made to watch the ball drop in NYC at 11:59 no matter what was going on in the football game. Let’s just say there was tension in the room about that decision.

We all stood up at 11:59 and waited for my brother-in-law to change the channel from the game to NYC. That’s when it happened, he accidentally turned the TV off. OFF! How? We could not figure out the rental house TV in time to turn it back on! He repetitively defended himself with, “I was trying to change the channel!”, but it appeased no one as we continued to fire glances at him. We missed both the end of the game AND the beginning of the new year! He had ruined it. We rang in the new year in silence, stunned.

Suddenly, a small chuckle broke the tension. Slowly another started to laugh, and another, and all of a sudden we were all laughing and hugging in disbelief at what had happened, wishing each other a Happy New Year, and poking fun at my brother in law of course! What we thought was going to ruin our night actually ended up a better experience than any of us could have imagined.

Interruptions and unmet expectations are often frustrating and confusing, even painful at first. Sometimes they are small things like the television turning off at a bad time. Yet sometimes they are larger events like a good friendship unexpectedly ending, or news of someone you love being sick. What do we do when those interruptions happen?

Did you know that the God who made you and me is with us right in the middle of it all, despite any interruptions or unmet expectations that happen in life? Whether these interruptions are big or small, frustrating or confusing, painful or annoying, we can take comfort in the fact that God has a greater plan beyond these interruptions, better than any of us could imagine.

His heart breaks with us because of the pain we feel in this world and in our hearts, even if we’re confused about who He is or if He loves us. He delights in me and you, His creation. A book right in the middle of the Bible called “Psalms” says in Psalm 17:8 that we are the apple of His eye, and He wants to protect us under his wings like a bird would its babies.

The Bible also says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”