Little Things... Like Car Break-Ins and Time-Warping

This morning I woke up and the car keys were nowhere to be found. I dragged Ben out of peaceful unconsciousness to search frantically for them, my mind ticking off the minutes before I would absolutely miss my first class at CanIL.
We determined they must be locked inside the car.
Neither of us knows how to break into a car.
Turns out no one in our host family does either.
Thankfully, there is only so long that you can stand around a car with a hanger and a stubby knife in the quite Dutch town of Lynden before the police show up.
They do know how to break into cars.

Off I zipped down the road running calculations in my mind. It's 8:16. My class starts at 9:00. If I make it through the border without having to wait in line, and if there is no traffic on Hwy 1, and if the train is not holding up traffic at the intersection of Glover Rd., and if all the lights are green, I should be able to make it just in time for Tone Analysis.
But the lights were red, there was a line at the border, and a big wreck on Hwy 1.
This is probably the 3rd or 4th time that I have earnestly prayed, "God, please warp time for me."

It was 8:24 at the Canadian border with two big transport rigs and a line of cars in front of me. I turned my clock off so I couldn't see it anymore. I've found I waste a lot of mental energy trying to will time to slow down. I may still be in denial that this is out of my control.

I may waste a lot of mental energy trying to control a lot of things that aren't actually in my control.

"God, please time-warp me. Please help me get to class on time."

8:55 I am setting my backpack down in class, only the second student to arrive.
The math doesn't add up.
Call it what you want. I am extremely grateful.

I am grateful for the generosity of one of the girls at the house for offering me her car in case we couldn't break into ours.
I am grateful for nosy neighbors and skilled police officers.
I am grateful for the apples and the apple crisp that some fantastic person left in the common room at school.
I am grateful for Tonal Languages - as ridiculously complicated as they make things - and for someone with the expertise to teach me how to analyze them.
I am grateful for my husband, who simultaneously teaches me the need to give grace and the blessedness of receiving it.
I am grateful for this crazy, beautiful life with all its mess and all its glory.
I am grateful for God who transcends time and the littleness of my nature and who makes catastrophes into miracles, whether they are miracles of finding grace in relationship or time-warping on the way to school.

May your day be full of the joy of life and little things that matter. May your heart be full of gratefulness to the Giver of every good thing.