Blind Faith

GOOD MORNING!

What a morning I had,

LOL

Early this morning, around 1 a.m., I told my friends Johnny and Mario that I'd be picking them up from the airport as they arrived back from their Thanksgiving vacation. Initially, I agreed to this when Johnny mentioned the pickup being at 8 p.m.

Yeah LOL

Anyway, I did that and thankfully I could get a little sleep before and after the fact. Boy did I feel it as I woke up for work... At first, it was okay, I was surprised at how little fatigued I felt. I picked up my phone to check a few things about my apartment (I am super excited, just the sight of rent officially being taken from my bank made me smile) and felt accomplished to be up with no issues. Side note, the Amazon Alexa app has got to have some of the worst UI EVER, I mean two separate volume menus for the same device put in different areas of the app is crazy. Besides that, I was able to figure out how to increase the very low hum that was my Alexa alarm. I ended up putting my phone down after all this, just over 10-15 mins later making the time 5:15 (I need to be ready to go to work by 5:30 at the latest). Let me ask you this, future me, is there ever a "I'll just sleep 15 more minutes"???

I am going to safely say NO LMAO

I woke up at 5:36 and definitely wasn't going to make it to work on time via the normal "no-tolls" route I take. Dare I take the tollway to work this morning? A whopping 17-minute drive seemed like a deal too good to be true. I rushed my outfit on, brushed my teeth, and my hair, and ran to the kitchen to pick my morning commute fruit. I chose a banana and apple combo this morning until my peeled banana met the cobwebs under the kitchen sink counter.

I was in such a rush I couldn't even stop to acknowledge how badly I wanted that banana. I compromised the combo for the double apple combo and sped-walked to my car. I threw my bag in the back seat and stomped the gas (poor car, it was 38 degrees on my way to work).

I follow the new path to work singing "Gratitude" by Brandon Lake (an amazing worship song btw) at the TOP OF MY LUNGS. You know when you are just so in the zone of a song, nothing else seems to matter?

Yeah well, I ended up missing a turn in my zone LOL, luckily by the grace of God, the next street offered the same path to my job. I turn, and I get on the tollway carefully calculating the cost (I haven't taken tolls the entire year of 2024, NTTA WILL BANKRUPT YOUR POCKETS) and pushing my little Kia soul to its limit to make it to work on time. Keep in mind, typically being late once wouldn't be a big deal, but the last two days I worked I WAS LATE BOTH DAYS LMAO. A rarity for me, I couldn't let it happen three days in a row. I got to work at 5:58 with "Gratitude" being repeated the whole way.

We're here now, on time, and down a whopping $1.88 (which I made sure to pay, I am telling you I am permanently scared by the NTTA). I had a crazy morning, one that in the past I would've definitely had a different outlook on. The feeling of being rushed hasn't subsided and I am lucky for that, I am still convicted of my duties as an employee, however, my older self, the self not in tune with God's word would've been so negative about the situation. Not only the fact that I was put through it, where I'd be blaming God, but also that I would be blaming myself. I feel like I used to live a constant cycle of self-destruction and I didn't even realize that I wasn't being kind to myself. There are so many things that can happen in a day, none of which (no matter how hard you try) you have control over. The only thing we have control of in situations where we as individuals lack control is how we respond to the situation. With that being said, building my relationship with God has definitely changed my perspective on that. Being kind to yourself for things outside of your control, understanding that regardless, God's plan will prevail, all together will allow you to prosper as an individual. God loves us so much, and in my case I failed to see it for most of my life. Amid everything I went through this morning, nothing was able to shift my mood, for I have stability in Christ. When we put our faith in Christ we are trusting that whatever happens here on Earth is purposeful, even in the minuscule. I see the banana hitting the floor so vividly looking back, and God was testing, how will my Son react to chaos. Does he trust me?

I do.

As for the rest of today, I plan on working more on my DevOps Udemy course, working out, and of course, BEEF BOWL

Until the next one!

I love you all,

Dominick Smith