Sponge Squeeze - Only 75¢

My pastor uses the analogy of a sponge being squeezed to illustrate the sin in our hearts. The analogy goes like this...
If you have a sponge full of water and you squeeze it and then there is water on the floor... Why is there water on the floor? Most people answer because you squeezed the sponge. That is not the right answer. The right answer is: There is water on the floor because there was water in the sponge. If the sponge was full of orange juice and then squeezed, then there would be orange juice on the floor. The squeeze only revealed what was in the sponge.

This is also true of our hearts. Every day someone squeezes our sponge. What comes out is solely based on what is in our hearts.

So today I had my sponge squeezed. Only cost me 75¢. I had a court hearing at 10:15 am. Now court hearings do not run on normal time, they run on "lawyer time." Based on lawyer time, the earliest the court hearing was going to start was 10:30 am. I left in plenty of time to get to the hearing. I found a great parking space and it was only 9:55 am. I got out of the car and got ready to put money in the meter, except that there was no meter. I looked around knowing this was too good to be true, and knowing this town, there was a meter somewhere. I finally see a sign posted that the meter is half way down the block in the opposite direction. Ok, weird, but no problem, I am early.

I walk down the block and start to get a little irritated (this is where the sponge starts to get slowly squeezed) because the meters that were there before were perfectly fine. Why did the county spend my tax dollars to get these advanced meters? Was it so the meter reader doesn't have to walk as much? (Squeezing a little more now.) I look at the directions, and the directions say to pick a spot. I pick number 8 - the spot that I parked in. I then put my money in - 75¢. The directions then say to pick my spot. (Didn't I already do this?) So I hit number 8 again. Then it said to insert money. (Sponge is really getting squeezed now.) I know I put the money in. So I start hitting some buttons a little harder than I did the first time to "help" it recognize the money I already put in. At this point it tells me to pick a spot again. I look at my watch and it is 10 am. I know the meter readers love to give tickets. They can smell when a meter is about to expire several blocks away.

I realized at this point I can't fight with this stupid contraption anymore and my choices are to move my car or get a ticket. I chose to move my car. I drove around the block and found a parking spot a block away. It has the old (perfectly good) meter. I pulled in. In God's kindness (remember He never gives us more than we can handle...) the meter already had an hour on it, so I only needed to add a little more. I got out of my car and started walking towards the court house. (Did I mention that all this happened in the rain? No? Well, it did.) As I am walking I am pleased to see it is only a few minutes after 10. I was only a half a block from the court house and decided that I had plenty of time (remember lawyer time...) and decided to stop into the borough building to get my 75¢ back. The lady tells me I have to go to the parking garage 2-3 blocks away and they might be able to help me. I realized I didn't have time for that and started walking to the court house. I got up to the waiting room just outside the court room at 10:12 am, and the room is EMPTY! I looked in the courtroom door window and saw my client sitting. I tapped on the door and got the sheriff's attention and he let me in. My client let me know that they had only entered the room about 30 seconds prior. I apologized to the judge and sat down. The hearing was over by 10:28 am. What happened to lawyer time?

So later that day I was at a red light in town and saw a meter reader walking in front of me. I put my window down and got her attention. I explained my situation to her and her response to me when I asked how to get my money back was, "You aren't getting your money back. The meter had clear directions on it and it is assumed that a person operating it can read the clearly marked directions. You won't be getting your money back."

At this point I said, "Ok, time to go." (My sponge had just been squeezed so tight that every drop of moisture that was in it, was in it no longer.) I pulled away telling myself, "It was only 75¢. Let it go. She squeezed your sponge for 75¢, let it go. You have a lot of mean, nasty thoughts coming out of you right now, and you need to let it go. 75¢... let it go. She was rude, but that doesn't give you a reason to be as mad as you are right now... Let it go."

After a few minutes I realized the Lord used 75¢ to reveal what was in my heart...

I can laugh at the situation now and realize it really is no big deal, and let it go...

I won't be using the "new" meters again. I will walk several blocks if I have to, just to use an old meter.

Funny how such small things can stir up such a big response. Thank you Lord that you gave me self-control to pull away before I said something rude to the meter reader lady. Thank you for working on my sinful heart.