It's not OK.

It's not OK.

A couple of friends were waiting for me at a restaurant.

I was running late because when I am working or studying it seems to take longer than expected.

I rushed through the door, a little winded expressing my apologies.

They smiled and said.  "It's OK!  Don't worry about it."

I appreciated their graciousness, but I shook my head.

Sometimes, it can be incredibly powerful to admit to yourself & others,

"Actually... it's not OK."

Like many led people, I have a tendency to go "above and beyond" when it comes to work - rising early in the morning going deeper and deeper barely surfacing to breathe.

There's nothing wrong with this tendency of devotion.  It's one of the things I like best about myself.

But what's wrong is when it is out of balance.

Even if it is OK with them, it's not OK with me.

But I'd never make a firm commitment to do better, without first beginning with the uncomfortable words:

It's not OK. 

It's not OK that I'm (almost) always a few minutes tardy when I'm meeting.

It's not OK to be a few minutes late for church.

It's not OK to be a couple of minutes late picking up the kids.

It's a small thing and yet it's a big thing.

Punctuality and honesty =  growth.

And that's definitely OK.

Let me ask a rhetorical question.  

"What's not OK with you?"

"Do to others as you have them do to you." Luke 6:31