Divine Interruptions?

I am a task oriented person.

I relish ticking off items from my 'to do' list. Managing my day by this step-by-step methodical list, I feel a sense of great pride and accomplishment.

Interruptions!?>%!$%!?!!}!{}!+!^!$!#!$.

They are my 'thorn in the flesh' and I loathe them. They enter my seemingly peaceful day of order and disassemble everything I so neatly planned. They change everything! When interruptions come that pull me away from my task at hand, and they do...daily, I am overwhelmed with frustration and panic.

Recently I was reading an article by Gordon MacDonald sub-titled Seeing God in Daily Interruptions. His words convicted my heart as he spoke about God's tendency to position people or circumstances in places where a word of hope can be offered to someone. "Many times," he said, "they seem like chance meetings but grow out of our 'daily interruptions.'"

Between the lines of my daily 'to do' list there is little room for conversation or relaxation. I pride myself in days of relentless tasks destined for completion. How can I accomplish what I have planned for today if I pause...to talk with a stranger or stop to chat with a long time friend?

MacDonald's article is entitled, Just Show Up. Throughout, he gives birth to the idea that perhaps these chance meetings have more to do with something called providence than we realize. "Thinking like this makes one become open to the possibility that no engagement between two human beings is an accident but just might be a God-designed event," quoting MacDonald.

Wow.
Lord, this is a wonderful idea of your 'general call' on my daily life, but I have things 'to do' that permeate every moment of my day. I'm not really sure I can squeeze you in. UGH!

MacDonald says the call might sound like this, "Today is one more day of routines. Show up; be faithful to your duties and obligations; treat every person you meet with dignity and respect; do and say the loving thing."

Can I do that?