I’m “single-dadd-ing” it this week. Shauna is on much needed, deserved—and, she says, enjoyed vacation. Which means I’m the sole parent in the house. That I’m the sole “get up at 6:30am to drive Noah to the bus stop so I can race home and then take Glory to her bus stop because it’s minus a billion” guy.

Fumbling out of bed this morning at that ungodly hour, I muttered a complaint while slipping on my jeans.

“This sucks.”

Funny, though, at the exact moment those words spattered off my lips, another phrase raced through my mind.

“This is a privilege.”

Which is strange, because I really was thinking how sucky it was getting up that early to do this all by myself. So the thought wasn’t my own. At all.

It was from God.

And the timing was impeccable. It was like a voiceover from above, and I was the Japanese Samurai movie needing subtitles. Kinda reminds me of Joseph’s story, found in Genesis in the Bible. Early in his life Joe-boy had a few dreams, and botched the “sharing with people” part. After getting thrown in a pit, sold into slavery, and thrown into prison for a crime he didn’t commit (sounds like a movie bi-line) he finds himself listening to some dudes in prison as they relate their dreams to him.

“Interpretations belong to God,” he replies, wisely.

How have I missed that verse before? Scripture interpretation belongs to God. Dream interpretation belongs to God. And get this—the official interpretation of my life belongs to God, too. Hence my little interruption this morning in the wee hours of the wee hours.

This sucks is a privilege.”

See? God is helping me interpret my life. Know why? I’m a bonehead, that’s why—what literary types call an “unreliable narrator” when it comes to my own life. My interpretation of what’s going on is usually completely out to lunch, so much so that I’d be a fool to act on my own wisdom or, uh, “lean on my own understanding,” as someone else once said.

Here’s an interesting exercise: Write up a timeline of your life that includes all major events, both positive and negative. Then talk to God about it, event by event. “What have I misinterpreted, God? And where? And how?” He may have something to say about the timeline itself. Something you figured was huge may be a molehill from his point of view, or vice versa.

The story God is telling through your life may not be the one you’ve been telling. And the more we agree with the “divine version” of things, the better. Right?

Things that make you go, hmmmm….