I think of myself as a relatively easygoing person. I don’t allow a lot to bother me, as a general rule, although I’m far from perfect. However, one thing that drives me crazy is Murphy’s Law. I allow myself to get ridiculously angry about stupid, unimportant stuff that goes wrong. For those of you who may not be aware of Murphy’s Law, it is a tongue-in-cheek “law” that if there is some way for something to go wrong, it will. For example, if I choose to wear a long-sleeve shirt, the temperature will be warm, and I’ll be hot and miserable. But if I go with the short-sleeve one, it will be cooler, and I’ll be cold but still miserable. Murphy’s Law has led to one of my mantras, which is I’d rather have something and not need it than to need it and not have it. Therefore, because I tend to be hot-natured, I usually dress in layers, short sleeve shirts with sweaters.
In recent years, I have allowed Murphy’s Law to really, really get to me, to the point where I behave in a way that I feel the need to apologize to God later. In fact, it has become such an issue for me that I put it in my novel. My heroine, Edie, also despises Murphy’s Law and must deal with instances of it in my book about her. Remember, a major responsibility of a good author is to torture our characters. Lol. Here is an excerpt:
“Stupid Murphy’s Law. She should have known they weren’t almost done with the deposition at noon. If they took a lunch break, they probably would have returned and finished in thirty minutes. But, no, since they worked through lunch, it was almost 4:00 p.m., and the end seemed nowhere in sight.”
As I age, I find my patience for such inconveniences is lowering, but aging is no excuse. I can still control my behavior. In the last few months, I came to the conclusion that Murphy’s Law is actually one of the ways Satan gets to me. I decided it’s not a law of nature (which I knew already), but it is a way for Satan and his minions to pull me away from God.
Then, recently, God sent me a lightning bolt thought that I need to stop allowing Satan to control my behavior that way. So, I’ve got a new attitude (cue Patti LaBelle. You’re welcome for that earworm. LOL.) Instead of getting aggravated, angry, and ridiculous about the small things that go wrong, I now laugh at them. How crazy is it that out of the hundreds of times I drive my car, I only get stuck by every, single light when I’m running late. Or that when I drop a piece of buttered bread, it’s more likely than not to land butter side down. (The law of percentages says it is 50%, but Murphy’s Law says it is 99%.) Of course, for the time being, I have to make a conscious effort to laugh at the Great Deceiver’s efforts to make me act in a non-Christian way. But before long, it will become habit. And it brings me great joy to know I have removed one more tool from Satan’s arsenal against me.
What are some examples of Murphy’s Law which have happened to you? Let’s laugh together.