And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
This is
my Battle Bible verse for today. When I got home from Florida, my desktop
computer crashed. I got it back yesterday but can’t find some files (especially
my organizer files – my contacts, my to do list, my schedule. Basically, I’ve
lost my mind.) A few weeks ago, Google decided that my author’s profile was my
primary profile. That wasn’t so bad – two clicks and I was back to my primary
profile. This morning, those two clicks take me to a new window, and the same
place I was before I clicked twice.
Some folks
might say, “no big deal.” But if their car stopped working, or their microwave
or some other piece of equipment they use for their work, they might better
understand my perspective. Fortunately, with both a desktop and a laptop, I can
limp along, switching to the laptop when the desktop doesn’t work. But it’s
frustrating. I want my tools to function properly!
But as I
look at today’s passage, I have to grind my teeth a little. God will meet all
my needs. Well, between the two computers, all my computer needs are met. They
just aren’t met the way I want them to be. What I want God to do is
miraculously make find my data and straighten out the issues.
Over the
last week, I listened to all four gospels and the book of Acts. Have you ever
noticed that little is ever said about Jesus procuring food or earning money? In
fact, He advises against our focusing on these. Instead, we should be seeking
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. So the reality that makes me
grind my teeth is that what I need from God is not for my data to be found or
my issues to be resolved, but for me to turn to Him, trust Him, grow to be like
Him. My need is to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to
love my neighbor as myself – which requires that I show patience to everything
and everyone that is getting in the way of my computers doing what I want them
to (including me!) And I find myself thinking along the lines of wisdom,
direction, attitude, creativity, courage, and vision.
With respect
to the little problem of my organizer – as a friend would put it – I have a
chance to reframe the issue. I have an opportunity to re-evaluate how I have
thought about life. There were categories of activities that I didn’t use, and
categories that I did use, but the tasks could just as easily have been put
into a different category. They tended to be grouped into types of tasks,
rather than purposes of the tasks or on the importance of the tasks. At the
same time, I suspect that if “Love God” were a category, nothing I do would get
assigned to it. Neither would it help (I suspect) to put things into categories
of wisdom, direction, attitude, creativity, courage, and vision. But the lack
of wisdom, direction, vision, and creative answers means that this is a place
of both opportunity and growth, and that brings me back to my need for
patience. Ultimately, the answer may not matter. I can put something in the
category of “home and garden” or in “creativity” or something else. But the answer
isn’t the key – the key is in the meditation on what is important and why.
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