It's like a kick in the pants...

.... When I refuse to extend grace to someone, and God uses me anyway. Maybe not so much a kick in the pants, but it makes me stop, take a second and re-examine my actions.

This morning when I got home, my landlord was parked badly AGAIN. Now, this is a person who for some reason, can't figure out the dementions of the vehicle she's in, and has on a number of occasions hit the house, the garage, and other people's cars... There's only space for two cars in the driveway... It's long so more could fit, but there would have to be some serious car shuffling to get out. Currently, my car has to park partly in the garden in order for there to be a huge space for the landlord to park her car... Not that my car is in the way... However, she's taken to parking in the middle of the driveway during the day so I have no parking space, or no way to get out. It's quite frustrating, as it only takes a second or two to park properly, while it takes a few minutes for me to find her to move the vehicle, and then she gets grumpy.... blah blah blah.

So, today when I got home and saw the van taking up both parking spaces a few thoughts went thru my mind. I considered going in and getting her to move it- short term pain, long term gain. I considered parking around the corner- the gracious thing to do... And I considered parking and blocking her in- that's the one I wanted to do most. And I wanted to park there.. And go have a shower, effectively blocking her until I was finished, running on MY timeline, thereby teaching her a lesson once and for all!!! MoooWA Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!

I sat at the end of the drive for a few minutes... Listening to CBC, the car running, debating.
I couldn't do it, and I drove around the corner ashamed at how awful I wanted to be.

As I was getting out of my car the little guy who lives next door (cutie pie 2 year old) toddled out from behind his parent's truck.... And started to walk down the road! I followed him and herded him closer to his house, trying to coax him back to his yard... But also trying to frighten him to his yard (don't want him trusting random people on the road!) He wasn't interested in going back in the least... I didn't want to pick him up, or take him by the hand... (the whole randoms issue) so I started talking really loud asking where mommy was, hoping she'd hear me... A few moments passed before she came to the door and saw me (this was at least 4 mins total that he was loose) she came out to say hi, and I let her know I had her little guy with me on the other side of the fence.... Panicked she rushed over and got him, ultra thankful that I'd been there to stay with him... And ultra ticked at daddy who had left the gate open and disappeared himself!

I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that I'd been there right when I had,
and I wasn't annoyed with my landlord anymore either...