Note from Grandma - Murphy’s Law by Muriel Larson

It was one of those weeks when I wished Murphy’s Law had a neck so I could wring it. You know, that horrible, inexorable force that hits all of us at times: If something can go wrong, it sure will.

It started when I got 12 rejections in the mail on Monday. As a freelance writer, I began to suspect then it might be a bad week. Am I losing my touch? I fretted. Is my career going down the drain?

A back tooth started aching. Oh no, I thought, don’t tell me I have to visit the dentist again! (Along with 5 million other people, it’s like pulling teeth to get me to go to the dentist.)

Then my mother called to tell me she had made an appointment with her doctor for the next morning and needed me to take her there. “Mom,” I exclaimed, “you know I do my writing in the morning. And I’m working on a big project!”

“Well,” said Mom sweetly, “that’s when the secretary told me to come- and I didn’t want to put her to any trouble!” (Good old considerate Mom!)

On Wednesday morning my daughter’s school called. Lori had been in an accident. “Is she all right?” I gasped. “Well, she’s all right,” answered the secretary, “but I can’t say the same for your car.”

A neighbor drove me to the school, where I checked out my car. Rammed in the right front side, it looked like a 3-dimensional model from a Salvador Dali painting. When I started the car, something clattered. And I couldn’t budge the gear shift.

“What am I going to do without a car, Lord?” I wondered. A teacher was looking it over. “The fan is out of whack,” he said. “A fan from a junkyard could take care of that.” The gear wouldn’t shift because the frame had been knocked off its base. The handy teacher put the gear in manually as I kept my foot on the brake. We took it to a transmission repair place, where the owner got the frame back in place – and charged me only $5! That afternoon I was able to drive my weird-looking vehicle to pick Lori up from school. How I thanked god I was not only able to drive the car, but I wasn’t having to go to the hospital to visit Lori!

On Friday- you guessed it! – the kitchen sink broke – a pipe sprang a leak and was watering everything under the sink. Dismay hit me, but then I prayed, and I examined the situation. I borrowed a big wrench from a neighbor; I tightened the flange – and the leak stopped!

As I look back on the week, I realized how much my habit of taking everything to the Lord helped me. I could have been a nervous wreck; but when each of these trials came, I took it to the Lord and He gave me His peace that passes all understanding.

At the end of the week I received 3 checks for articles, my tooth had stopped aching on Wednesday, I got Mom to the doctor’s and still finished writing my project. My car, although an interesting conversation piece, still worked. And with the Lord’s guidance, I had stopped the leak.

Here’s the Scripture that helps me get through a “Murphy’s Law” week: “Rejoice in the Lord always…Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phillippians 4:4-7)