"In Order"

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
I Corinthians 14:40

A few weeks ago, Austin and I went to a parade. I love parades. In just a few days, I will curl up on my couch sitting close to the t.v. and take part in one of my all time favorite traditions... "Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!" I love to sit and watch all the creativity float by me. I love that everything is lined up in order and goes down the street in an organized fashion. I love order. I love straight lines. I love all my cans in a straight row in my pantry. I love organization and by the way, I love my label maker.

The verse above talks about orderly worship, but I think that it speaks about God's nature in general. Our God is a God of order. Thank goodness. Our natural inclination sure does lean towards chaos, doesn't it?

Perhaps he got it from me, but Austin also loves his routines. Every morning, we enter the school in the same way. Austin opens the door on the right and then the door on the left

(I apologize to the nice man who tried to open the doors for us at school today. Although you saw me loaded down with my teaching bags and just wanted to help, my son needs to keep to our routines. I am sorry if he made your ears hurt by his shrieking loud NO!, but he was trying to tell you that every morning he opens the doors for himself and isn't quite ready for our routine to change.)

After opening both doors, he walks down the hallway peeking into each room.
"Is this mommy's classroom?" he asks in a sing song voice.
"No!" he playfully replies as he runs to peek into the next room.
Praise the Lord that my classroom is only the fourth door down the hall!
We peek into Ms. Aker's classroom for a big good morning to the turkey on her wall and then head in to hang up our book bags.

Order... even at 2... he wants this order... he craves order...

The nightime routine? Oh my goodness. James must help him turn the lights off and I cannot forget to hold him in the same way to say prayers.

Please give me order... Something in life needs to be predictable.

And so we watch the parades. The floats go down one at a time waiting until the other passes.