Amy's 'momentary trouble'

Do you ever use packaging tape? Because I work with computers, cell phones and pagers, I work with packaging tape almost on a daily basis. Today I had this huge fight with this stupid roll of tape! I am exceedingly careful NOT to let the leading edge get back down on the roll because it's nearly impossible to figure out where the edge is to get it back off! So, today I go to use it and the roll slips out of my hand and rolls across my desk, sealing the edge back down onto the roll! If that wasn't bad enough, it was strategically placed so the edge matched up with a slight bump in the roll so I couldn’t 'feel' for the edge on a smooth surface and I spent the next three (seemed like 5) minutes trying to catch the edge under a finger nail! When I finally do catch an edge and start peeling it back, it splits down the middle and I have to catch the edge on the other half and peel it back to its leading edge and then back down to where they meet! Now, even though I have the two halves back together, it STILL continues to split in half as I peel it off the roll! So here I am trying my hardest to make sure both halves are exactly matched at the point of the split and as I slowly pull more of the tape off from the roll, the split just as slowly continues along its merry way! Now I have this large wad of very sticky tape in one hand and it's beginning to stick to itself, making the task at hand exponentially more difficult. At this point a small voice in the back of my head says 'Hey…just take one of the two split pieces and tear it to the side.' WHAT? And admit defeat? You have got to be kidding! I am NOT about to let some stupid roll of tape get the better of me! You are goin' down roll! Several minutes later with about 5 feet of tape wadded up in my hand, I finally give in and go to tear it to the side. Even then…EVEN THEN the roll is non-compliant and wants to tear the opposite direction of where I'm trying to pull it! And that voice speaks to me again. 'If you would have just..' I don't want to hear it. '..but you would have saved..' Just put a cork in it would ya?
Later on in the day this incident got me thinking; packaging tape is very similar to life. Life can be going along pretty smoothly for awhile and then no matter how careful you are, something lays you flat and the bumps in life can make it very difficult to get back up. And just like tape, life tends to get sticky at times: temptation, peer pressure and selfishness are just a few examples. Life has a funny way (maybe not SO funny) of veering off or splitting at the most inopportune times; anyone who has experienced a sudden, unexpected change or loss can identify with this (I know that I can).

Life is chaotic…life is messy…it is disappointing, painful and it can be very frightening at times. But life can also be beautiful…rich and fulfilling. God MADE life and He made it the way it is for a reason. But life’s sticky and messy! Yes it can be at times, but give it over to God and with the blood of the Lamb, He will clean the mess and leave you spotless. But it’s disappointing and painful! And you don’t think Jesus if acquainted with pain and grief? Isaiah 53:3-4 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

For the love of Amy - V