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Do you feel you are racing through life and your middle name could be HURRY?

I don’t know too many individuals who love wasting time – would you consider yourself a person who loves to waste time?  I certainly don’t consider myself to be a squander of time, but I do it anyway when I’m trying to pack too much in my day.  

Hurry is not a good pace for any of us. 

I hate it when I make a bone-head mistake and it costs me needless work and TIME. 

Well, the other day, I had a problem with being careless. 

The next thing I’ll say is, “I hate bird poop.”  

Well, for in case someone listening to me today has forgotten the true definition of carelessness – let me refresh our memories:  it’s the lack of awareness during one’s behavior that results in unintentional consequences.

Yes, my carelessness made me clean up one of the nastiest messes I have ever had to endure.  When I left my new car to go into the restaurant my car was white.  When I came out of the restaurant my car was psychedelically riddled with brown/black, greyish/white, and red/orange splatters.  What do these birds eat and how often do they have really bad stomach aches? 

I sat there horrified.  It was way too late for a carwash to be open.  My multi-toned car would have to wait until morning. My brain was no longer asleep and going through the motions.  I had a thought – a good one too.  It sounded something like this:  I wonder if my paint will be safe with all that bird graffiti going on. Google said cars are not good toilets for birds because the acid will peel the top layer of paint.  

My mindless choice now had me intentionally grabbing gloves.  I began wiping and smearing bird poop off my car.  It was freezing outside….and it was not fun.  

Of course, there were a couple of lessons in it for me.  35 minutes-worth of cleaning-time allowed a careless woman to think about how her actions were on autopilot.  The seemingly wet asphalt was noticed as my lights glazed over it, but I quickly excused it as moisture from the sprinkler system = wrong.  How come I missed all of those birds screeching as if they were having a party.  I was too rushed, too tired, and perhaps too hungry.  

1Ephesians 5:17 tells us this, “Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly.” 

The life lesson was valuable.  

It’s costly when we get ourselves into a frenzy of hangry emotions.  Before we know it, big black birds will be laughing at us, and we don’t even realize it.  Just for the record, I have parked in that same spot at least 40 times, but that day was different, and I missed it. 

Let’s pay attention to our surroundings and go after intentional consequences that bless our lives and not rob from us.  Time is so precious, let’s invest it wisely. 

And, if you want to tell on yourself as I have done today, I welcome your comments.