Interruptions

So my day had lots of interruptions, hence I’ve only got to writing this blog now! I had a plan for the day in my head. Basically it was write a talk for Sunday morning. Today was the day. I started straight after the morning prayer meeting (makes me sound spiritual, but I’m the minister so I have to be there don’t I?). I knew I had a staff Zoom meeting at 10am and a counselling appointment at midday but then it was free run to the end of the talk. Hmmm! Not so. I had some interruptions. A couple of conversations I hadn’t foreseen. But that’s ok because they were good interruptions. Counselling postponed to tater in the day, but my now I’m all out of kilter. I’m not as far on as I should be. So I go for a run to clear my head. Another interruption but one of my choosing so that’s ok. Until l I meet Mr. Slow on the bridge right at the start of the run. He’s walking in the middle of the path. He’s carrying two bags of shopping, one in each hand, so with social distancing laws I can’t squeeze past, and he’s got headphones on so he doesn’t even know I’m behind him. I have to walk! Bad interruption. Now I’m behind on my talk and behind on my run! I try to turn the music volume up so I can drown out my sorrows as I run, but somehow I turn off the sound completely! Bad interruption because music takes my mind off the pain. And I discover covers the sound of my heavy breathing and the pounding of my feet on the ground, which I now have to listen to all the way round my gruelling circuit! I got home, in a faster time than most runs, and got the talk finished, talked with my client and made a call about a funeral I have to take. A day of interruptions. Some good, some…annoying. The day didn’t go to plan. At least not my plan. Although, in the bigger picture…even Jesus got interrupted. Once by a woman who wanted healing, once by a centurion, once by a woman whose son had died. It seems he allowed himself to be interrupted. And when he was he transformed lives. On the other hand he never let himself be interrupted from his main thing. He even told Peter to get out of his way (well he actually said “Get behind me Satan”) when Peter tried to come up with an alternative to going to the cross. He kept the bigger picture in view. Always. And I figure that maybe that’s what I should do since I too live in the bigger and better story of God. And perhaps that is particularly true during this extremely unwelcome interruption of COVID-19.