June 16, 2021 - Getting Over Your Snit : On the Road Chaplain

Getting Over Your Snit!

Have you ever gotten yourself into such a “snit” that you can’t think, you can’t be kind, and in all honesty, no one wants to be around you? It happens, some days things can eat away at us like a termite drills a tree stump! I use that metaphor because while camping last week on our days off, I took a picture of a termite-riddled stump. It wasn’t pretty, and I know I’m not pretty either when I have a snit going on!

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. -Psalm 63:3 (NKJV)

This verse is one I love because we sang it a lot many years ago when Al & I were youth-group leaders. They would sing it loudly, “your lovingkindness is better than life…” and now that I have written that I’ll be singing it all day. Ah, an easy song to sing, but when you’re in a foul mood thinking of God’s loving kindness is the furthest thing from your mind, right?

I toasted my English muffins this morning a bit more than I like so that started off the day as a bummer. I put a little extra butter on it and jam, which ran over and smacked my shirt so I had to change it before heading out to the Welcome Station to check in our campers.

Arriving at the station, the wind picked up and all the paperwork I had flew all over. Then the phone started ringing, and the computer was more than slow to boot up, and of all days, it was time to create a new password. When you work for the Army Corp of Engineers there is many safety perimeters, but today I wanted to throw the safety out the window! But I persevered with a new password making sure I wrote it down otherwise I’d forget (they want tough long passwords for safety).

The morning progressed on with people checking out and one person lagging behind, pushing the envelope for our “non-negotiable noon check-out.” A few minutes isn’t bad, but she was closer to 1pm, and of course, that would be a site that was taken for tonight! Al finally gave her the “talk” which means a ranger would be coming around and she’d be docked another night’s stay for over-staying her welcome. Her answer? They can’t check-in until 1pm so I can stay until 1pm. Wrong! Sites need to be inspected, spiffed up if needed, Al told her.

Finally, she left and stopped to check-out saying very unkindly, “I didn’t leave anything dirty” and this was at about 1:30pm. I bit my lip and said very kindly even if my head wasn’t matching the kindness, “thank you, we appreciate that, but please, in the future, respect our noon check-out rules. Had our next guest already been here it wouldn’t be fair to them to have had to wait.” She just stared hard at me and zoomed away much faster than our speed-limit allows. Truth be told, I hoped a ranger saw her and gave her a speeding ticket!!

I sat for a minute thinking if I don’t get out of this snit even God wouldn’t want to be around me, so I decided I needed to pray. That ended quickly with another phone call! The lady on the phone said, “Oh Cyndy, I was hoping it would be you that answered because I wanted to tell you how delightful it was to go to El Rito and all the beautiful places in the mountains around there. I’ve never had a camp-host so kind to share so much information so I could enjoy my stay.” By this time, I was sitting upright and the realization came to me that God was in my snit helping me get rid of it through another wonderful person.

And that is what brought me to this Hump Day devotion! She and I talked a bit and she was wanting to stay longer if we had room, I helped her with the days so she could go online and make her reservation and the call ended with “you’re the best, see you later this afternoon.” (And yes, she did stop by and as she promised, brought me a whole bunch of Carson National Forest maps to share with other campers who want to explore this beautiful area!)

Oh, if she only knew!! Now I had time to work on my devotions. I stared at my computer screen and somehow, I clicked on YouTube instead of my website (see what snits do to you?) Music started playing, just the music I needed—the Cathedrals singing It Is Well With My Soul – how that one came up I cannot answer, except again, God was in the middle of my snit for sure.

I started singing and one of the maintenance workers went by and heard me, “I love that old hymn” he shouted to me. I’d forgotten I had all the windows open as it was still a nice morning with a great breeze. He smiled and waved and I heard him singing as he went on his way. My next thought was out-loud (making sure no one could hear me this time), “OK God, I get it, and I must get over it.” Then I started laughing so hard when the phone rang again, I had hiccups which started more laughter with the person on the other end.

What is all this about? It’s about our emotions that God knows all too well. It’s about the funks we put ourselves in that God is willing to help get us out of! And most of all, it is a powerful reminder that no matter what snit or funk or foul mood we are in, our loving God doesn’t stop loving us unless we straighten up. Instead, the Spirit of God, that holy breath of power and wisdom, begins an infusion in our confusion, reminding us of whose we are and the grace, mercy and love we have in our precious Savior.

As I write this, we’ve hit 98 degrees here in northern New Mexico, not very common, but I’m not in a sweat about it. In fact, God has shown me that the outreach of his love will quell any junk that comes into my life and give me the strength to overcome it. Of course, I have to admit, the joy of air-conditioning helps a lot, too!