First reactions

Last evening my husband received a call from our “tax guy” informing us of how our taxes came out. Dave happily told me that we would have to pay in a very, very, very small amount to one and get back a little from the other. I should have been happy, but my first reaction was to ask why? My husband told me that because our daughter got married and we decided not to claim her on our taxes, that also meant that we couldn’t claim her education tax credit as well. And we also have only one child living at home now. I said, “Well that’s not fair” and went about cleaning up the dinner dishes.


Later in the evening while I was working on my Bible study I started thinking about my reaction to Dave’s news. What wasn’t fair about it? The more I thought the less I could find that wasn’t fair. Why did I react like that? I should have been happy but instead I got an attitude of poor me. I started thinking of all the blessings that I have and how fortunate we are that we didn’t have to pay in a large amount to both, that we were basically breaking even. And that’s when God said to me, “Jill, you need to go apologize to Dave for your reaction.” At that very moment that I was going to go to Dave, he walked into the room with a hot cup of coffee for me to have while I was working. I sheepishly said thank you for the coffee and then said I was sorry. Dave looked surprised and asked what I was sorry about. I told him that I shouldn’t have reacted so poorly about our taxes. That after thinking about it I am very happy for the outcome. He looked at me with a puzzled look, said okay and walked out of the room and then looked back in through the partially closed door with a smile on his face.

I almost missed a blessing because I was to consumed of thinking about myself. Instead of rejoicing I chose to disregard it. How many times during our day do we disregard the blessings that God gives us?

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” - 1 Corinthians 13:6-7

Blessings,
Jill