Today was one of those days that everything seemed to go wrong from the moment I woke up.   I have started a new job, I am a substitute school bus driver.  This job requires me to be at work at an insane time of morning.  A time when it is still dark out and the sun does not come up for hours.  Today I woke to my alarm and hit snooze several times then I finally crawled out of bed and made my way upstairs where I put tea bags on the stove to cook then left the room for a few minutes. Upon returning to the kitchen I discovered a room full of smoke and ashes floating around. I had turned on the wrong burner and the one I turned on had a burner cover over it which had caught fire.  What a mess! It took me about 10 min to clean the mess up then I headed for the shower. Upon reaching the bathroom I conveniently knocked a shelf of knick knacks off the wall. Grumbling to myself I hung the shelf back on the wall picked up all the little knick knacks then managed to get myself ready for work and out the door about 10 minutes behind schedule.  Upon arriving for work I discovered that the route I was driving I was supposed to have already left so I jumped in a bus and headed out in the dark to pick up the kids.  As I was driving down a dark back road looking for my first kid  I realized I had not taken my medicine that was in my jacket pocket so I opened a brand new 7 up which I had conveniently shaken up on my rush to get in a bus.  The soda was spewing in the dark all over me and the nice clean bus I was driving.  I pulled over looked around for some paper towels only to discover there were not any.  So I used my jacket to sop the mess off me and the steering wheel.  I returned to the route sticky and thinking what a mess I have made of someone’s nice clean bus. I continued on picking up kids in a sticky bus. After I picked up the last kid and was heading to High school to drop them off and topped a big hill and that’s when I saw it…. The most spectacular sunrise ever! The sun was silently slipping up over the horizon with all the trees of Spring in bloom in the prettiest purples and whites.  It was such a gift from God! The rest of the route went very well, I dropped off the kids at school and had about 5 minutes between routes to where I found a gas station and got some soapy towels and cleaned up the bus and myself then headed out for the elementary run.  I was driving along looking for my first kid and as I turned a corner a poor turkey decided to dive in front of the bus.  By this time I was wondering what else!   I managed to finish the run without anymore mishaps and headed home.  Once home I made some breakfast and a nice big glass of tea.  I set the tea on the table and managed to knock it off on the floor, another mess to clean up!   What a day and it was only 9:30!  I cleaned up the mess and headed for my office to make phone calls.  I am a volunteer advocate for Compassion International and had volunteered to call sponsors for them.  I have 25 people and had not been looking foreword to making the calls and had been wondering why I had volunteered for this.  I was nervous I would not know what to say plus I did not have a lot of time for to do it. I said a prayer and asked God to please help me know what to say and to give me peace then reluctantly I began making my calls.  The first call I made a nice man answered and I soon found myself beginning to relax. We talked for quite a long time.  Then each call after that was easy to call.  Wow what a nice time I had calling and chatting with those people! I found out that something I dreaded was actually something fun and I feel like I made a couple friends! So there it was another gift! God is good!

I finished my phone calls and headed back to work for my afternoon run.  I got to school loaded up the High school kids and realized I only had 5 kids to take home I thought wow this will be a nice quick route …. Well I thought to soon as I dropped off my last girl she informed me there was “water” running out of the front of the bus, upon farther investigation I realized that the radiator had sprung a very very large leak.  Just my luck! What a day! I called the mechanic to tell him what had happened and the minute I put it on the radio a bunch of my fellow bus drivers began working it out on the radio what they could do to help me.  The mechanic sent a tow truck and a driver volunteered to come out and pick me up.  Wow, another gift!  To have the privilege to work at a place where everyone is willing to help out and truly seem to care about each other.   After settling What to do about the bus, the kids and me someone realized that I was broken down in the turn around spot so they let me know I may want to walk up and meet the driver who was picking me up …so I headed out for a walk.  It was a beautiful day for a walk I soon discovered!  I also realized it was only a few steps to a nice place for the driver who was coming for me to turn around at.  As I waited for her I realized this was kind of fun its not every day when driving a bus I get to stand out on a country road on a beautiful day and see the flowers and trees with new growth of the Spring season.  The breeze was blowing it was just a really nice day, wow could it be another gift??   The driver soon arrived and took me back to school to get on a new bus that was loaded with my kids ready to go home.  The rest of my day went very well.

As I reflect back on my day I realize that no matter how bad a day I may think I am having someone else is having a way worse day than me.  The things that happened to me today were minor, just small bumps in the road to make me slow down and see the bigger picture.  There is so much to be thankful for and with every turn there is another gift just waiting to be found.  I could have chosen to dwell in the moments of aggravation but what fun would that have been?  I want to choose the blessings.  All day long there are little tidbits of joy sprinkled around, lots and lots of hidden treasure just waiting to be found,  all I have to do is open my eyes and see 🙂

Isaiah 45:3
I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.