Frustrations

I've been thinking lately about what God does to get our attention. To be honest, I think I'm fairly good at turning to him when I'm in the midst of a major crisis. However, I have a lot to learn about turning to him with the small daily annoyances of life.
Last week Robin dropped me off at work in Westbank with my bike. I was only working for a couple of hours and the plan was to ride back home on my bike. It was a hot, sunny day, and after trying to teach 1-10 in French to a kid who didn't want to be in summer school, I hopped on my bike to ride home. I had some things to do at home and should have gone straight there, but as I crossed the bridge to come into Kelowna the beach looked just so darn inviting. I biked to the library and looked for something good to read. I bought some ice cream and found a place to sit on a corner of a boat launch. the waves were lapping at the shore and I spread my books out, my bike parked beside me.
A parasailer flew by, towed by a boat, and I looked up at him with interest. It was less than 10 seconds later when suddenly disaster struck. A huge wave from the tow boat crashed against the boat launch and sprayed up at me. I started to get to my feet when suddenly another bigger wave hit. It completely drenched me, all my books, and started to wash my sandals and my bike away. I grabbed at them frantically and tried to stumble away from the edge before a third wave hit. Everything was soaked- from my purse to my new magazine to my Spanish textbook and bible and my clothes. A few people saw my plight and laughed. I began to spread everything to dry on the grass and as I took a step away suddenly I stepped on a bee and it stung me on the bottom of my foot. My immediate response was less than polite.
A young shirtless man was seated nearby and he said, "Hey, how are you? Do you mind if I come over and talk to you?"
I gave him a look to sum up my mood and he said, rather helpfully, "Maybe I can just come over later and talk to you."
There was nothing to do but pack everything up and go home. I rode home in disgust, muttering under my breath. When Robin came home from school I was still grumpy.
Unfortunately my little tsunami disaster wasn't the only frustration of the week. I borrowed a movie only to find there was nothing in the case. I ran to Marlene's to borrow her car only to discover I left the keys at home. I got a stomachache from too many cherries and a neckache from sleeping funny and a brainache from talking to some jerk at work who told me my marriage was doomed to failure.
I have my only little theory about why these particular trials came my way this week. In a general sense, though, I think God is quite good at specificially designing trials that will draw us into relationship with him. He lets us struggle with futility so we will look to him for meaning. He lets us encounter scary situations or not enough money or food so that we will learn to trust him. He lets us experience discouragement in relationships so that we will come to him as the only true and faithful friend and lover. He hurts us because he loves us, and wants us to love him.
So I know I've got a long way to go, but at least after the fact I recognized that God was trying to say something to me that day last week. Not only that, but everytime I took a step the beesting reminded me of what God was trying to say. Now, that's clever!