Perspective

It is 3 o’clock. A.M. As in, I should be blissfully asleep 3 am. Instead, I am losing my ever-loving mind. You see, I am not at home in my own warm bed, snuggling with my husband. No. I am hundreds of miles from my sleeping family, in a chain hotel in Charlotte, NC. In a chain hotel in a room that happens to be directly beside the engine room. An engine room that, at this hour (and for the last hour) has indigestion. For approximately 56 minutes, I have been tortured with the intermittent brrrrrrp, brrrrrrrrp, brrrrrrp from said engine room. At 3 am, time moves like molasses and 56 minutes feels like 2 days. Because my life is a comedy, the front desk has informed me they do not have a key to said engine room and must call for backup. Dick Tracy should be arriving in his squad car at any time to shake down the situation. Until then, I wait. And listen to my serenade from my neighbor.

Brrrrrrp. Brrrrrrp. Brrrrrrp.
Me: Hi, this is Erin Dixon again in room 101.
Front Desk: Yes, ma’am. {Enter words of sincere apology here.}
Me: Is there not another room I can go to?
Front Desk: No, ma’am. We are 100% sold out.

Well, of course you are.

Brrrrrrp. Brrrrrrrp. Brrrrrrrp.

So, what does this little novella have to do with perspective, you ask? Probably not a lot, if you’re not tortured to the edge of sanity. But I am, so it’s perfectly logical to me right now. Thankyouverymuch.
As you may imagine, I’ve spoken to God a couple of times in the last hour (now 61 minutes). Mostly, my asking for another ounce of patience and sanity, as I gluttonously used up what He gave me 5 minutes previous. But, in those conversations He also told me this isn’t something that will matter. This isn’t a life changing event. After I get over my bleary-eyed plane ride tomorrow morning, this will be but a distant memory. So, He gave me patience in the form of perspective.
I remember now that a high school friend spent the night in a hotel in North Carolina the previous night with his wife. They were to travel to Duke Tuesday to find out if her brain cancer was responding to treatment. I doubt they slept either.  They've probably had a number of sleepless nights in the last year.
Ah, perspective.

So, I will wait for this insane moment to pass, knowing it will indeed pass. And, I will spend the remainder of this interrupted night praying that my high school friend never again spends a sleepless night in a hotel in North Carolina. Because his wife is healthy and happy and 100% healed. If you happen to be up at 3 am in the coming days, I ask you to pray for them too. Thank you, Lord, for perspective.