Sweating the Small Stuff

I was tired. My day had started with a surgical patient to pray with at 6 A.M. So by 11 p.m. I was ready for a good night’s sleep. My wife was out of town so I had the whole bed to myself. I stretched out and just got comfortable with a heard what sounded like the chirp caused by a cell phone low battery. I lay there hoping the sound would go away but about 5 minutes later the “chirp” was back. I got up and went over to my wife’s night stand. She had recently changed phones and I found her old phone. I held her phone in my hand but no “chirp”. It was turned off. I checked the alarm clock to be sure the power was on. It was. So back to bed. Two minutes later, the “chirp” occurs again. This time I check my phone. It appeared to be fully charged but I was not taking any chances so I plug it into my charger and find my way back to bed. By now I was on edge and wide awake waiting to see if the chirp would again occur. It did. Now I was really ticked off. I got up, grabbed a blanket, slammed the bedroom door shut and went to the recliner in the den for hopefully a good night’s sleep. The chirp continued but was more muffled and I figured I would eventually get to sleep. My daughter came upstairs to see what was going on and I explained the sordid tale to her. She went to my bedroom and waited patiently for the next “chirp”. Upon hearing it she immediately went to my dresser and found MY old cell phone, which I had not used for a month, was the culprit. Apparently, it had been left on all of that time but because it was not used it took a long time to wear down the battery. She turned the phone off and peace and quiet was restored. Finally I crawled into my bed and got a good but short night’s sleep.

This saga reminded me that we often allow the smallest distractions in life to affect our relationship with the Lord and prevent our lives from “overflowing”. Maybe it’s a comment by a church member that offends us. Maybe something does not go our way in a church committee or business meeting. Maybe it’s a untimely interruption when we are doing our devotions and we never get back to them. Maybe it’s an early morning appointment that causes us to skip our prayer time so we are not late. (Seems that getting up earlier was not a seriously considered option.) Maybe it’s a “great idea” we have for a church event and no one pays attention. I use these examples because they have all occurred in my life. You probably have your own set of things-small things-insignificant things that Satan uses to stifle our joy and to block us from having the abundant, overflowing life that God desires us to have with Him. A book was written many years ago called “The Tyranny of the Urgent”. It talked about how we allow the “urgent” things in our lives to hinder us from doing the really important things. Part of the problem is that we have an “earthly” rather than an “eternal” perspective. When something offends or threatens to derail you in your relationship with the Lord ask yourself this question: “Does it really matter for eternity?” if the answer is “no”, get back to what is truly important in life. As Paul reminds of in Philippians 3:8” I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” In modern slang, “Don’t sweat the small stuff” but press on “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14.

Pressing on,
Paul Marth