On a day when everyone is hungry for lunch and there’s no food in the house because there was no time to buy groceries, what’s a mom to do? Living a stone’s throw from a drive thru window we find that to be a quick solution.

Yesterday we went to grab a bite with the plan to go grocery shopping later so I said, “I’ve got $10 to spend on lunch. ONLY $10. We’ve got chips and drinks at home. Everyone is getting a cheeseburger.” My crew of 5 Posties agreed and off I went to the drive thru.

At the drive thru kids start calling out to me that they want chicken nuggets instead of cheeseburgers and can they have a sweet tea? And with the pressure of the lady asking me what I wanted (no pressure like that to frazzle a mom) and the 10 cars behind me I ordered in a confused state and the order came to $10.30. $10 AND 30 cents!

30 cents should not push a mom to the breaking point. But 30 cents did just that. And as I was scrounging for 30 cents and came up with only $10.28, the lady taking my money heard me saying to my kids, “Why can’t any of you stick to the plan?”

On the way home I asked myself (after fussing at my kids) if 30 cents REALLY DID send me over the edge and why did that happen? I tried to blame it on lots of things. It’s summer and there have been wall to wall kids 24/7 for weeks with constant chatter and fights to break up. I’m tired. Worn down. There’s too much on my plate. There’s no quiet in my life. I’m hungry so my blood sugar dropped. I dread an appointment I have to keep tomorrow.

But then the words “why can’t any of you stick to the plan?” came into my mind and I realized my chicken nugget breakdown wasn’t about any of those things. It was about control and how I hate the feeling of being out of control.

But here’s the thing….so much of our lives are out of control. And it’s nerve racking, unless we lean hard on the One who is in control. The harder I lean on Him the less I need to be in control because I can trust He has it. The less I lean on Him the less I trust His control and the more I want to be in charge.

So the problem wasn’t the 30 cents. The problem was that I had allowed the sin of busyness to take over my life. We often treat busy schedules as something to contend with, something to manage and sometimes even something to be proud of. But if busyness is robbing us of the time we need to be with God, then I’m afraid it’s become so much more than a pressure. It’s become a sin.

Friends, are you on edge? Does your life seem out of control? Do little inconveniences get a much greater response from you than they should? It’s time to give control back to the Lord. Spend some time with Him today and let Him make things right in your world.