Something's Not Quite Right

Have you ever been going along in life, just going through your daily routine and suddenly you get the feeling that something’s just not right?

I had just such an experience one morning while I was in a hurry to get dressed. I had just finished having a cup of coffee, checking my e-mails, and looking at the weather for the day all on my handy phone. I’m not a morning person at all. I come alive about four in the afternoon. Before that I’m pretty much dragging. I’ve never been a morning person. I was even born at 2:00 p.m. on March 18th. I was supposed to be born on March 1st, but I was so comfortable where I was, I thought, “What’s the rush?”          As I started getting undressed to get into the shower, I felt like I was just going through the motions. I think my brain was still catching a few winks. As I stepped into the shower under the warm, running water, I remember thinking, “Lord, something doesn’t feel quite right. The day has begun and I feel like I’m not ready to start yet. What’s wrong with me?” As I began washing, I still couldn’t get past the feeling that something was different. Something was just not quite right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew something was wrong.

I closed my eyes and started singing to myself. You know, just trying to lift my spirit a bit, but no matter how hard I tried, I just didn’t feel like myself. I stood under the water trying to wake up and get myself going. As I stood there, I tried to grasp what was different about that morning. I suddenly realized that even the shower floor felt different. It felt a bit squishy. I opened my eyes to check out the floor of the shower and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was wearing my bedroom slippers. Nothing else, mind you, just bedroom slippers. No wonder the floor felt squishy. Wet bedroom shoes are not very comfortable. It was a very weird feeling. I felt so stupid. I lost it right there in the shower. There I stood, laughing uncontrollably wearing nothing but soaked bedroom slippers. It was a moment for the books (literally). I pulled off my bedroom slippers and squeezed out all the water. At least I had discovered a new way to get my body clean and wash my bedroom slippers all at the same time. I couldn’t decide if I was losing it or if I was a genius. 

Sometimes we have days where we feel like we could conquer the world, spiritually speaking, and then on other days, we wonder if we’ll be able to get out of bed. We know those days when we don’t feel one hundred percent victorious. Something seems a little off, but we’re not quite sure what it is. We don’t feel like a conqueror. We feel more like we’re standing in the shower wearing soaked bedroom slippers. But being a conqueror has little to do with feeling like a conqueror.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37–39 (NIV)

No matter how we’re feeling, we are still more than conquerors because nothing can separate us from God’s love. So even on those days when you’re not feeling on top of the world, you are more than a conqueror. On those days, remind yourself who and what you are. You are a child of the Most High King, Jesus Christ, and you are more than a conqueror, even when you’re standing in the shower wearing only your wet bedroom slippers. 

Excerpt from "Life is a Buffet, But Bring a Mop and a Pail," Copyright ©2013 by Polly D. Boyette All Rights Reserved.