Busy straining gnats and swallowing camels!

Good Thursday morning and welcome one and all to the latest from your field reporter here on duty observing the obvious, and making obscure that which is clear and staying busy at it on this November 5, 2009. I suppose for many it will seem as if the world is back in sync after the Yankees won their 27th World Series last night. They are one of those teams that everyone loves to hate but it always seems out of place when they are not the champions. I hate it when it works that way. Many golf fans say they love the sport but when Tiger is out of contention they had just as soon watch reruns on QVC. We are a funny lot with all kinds of idiosyncrasies, or have you noticed? Truth is, I may not notice mine nearly as much as yours but that doesn't mean we all aren't weird in our own way. I'm not sure my wife could eat her rice and gravy without stirring it up in a very deliberate and specific manner. She has been doing this exactly this way ever since I've known her. I don't do mine that way and there have been times when I would be frustrated enough to ask: "Are you finished stirring that rice yet?"

Isn't it just like us to become irritated over stuff that does not amount to a hill of beans? I mean if she wants to stir her rice into a pudding, why should something like that cause me any grief? We are blessed because after nearly forty five years as a couple we've learned to laugh together over our different quirks. But it is so easy for any of us to make mountains out of mole hills and cause trouble over meaningless and insignificant things. You most likely have things that drive you up the wall. One of mine is to be in line at the grocery store and have a lady with a huge basket of groceries who only decides to get interested in paying after everything is processed. (I've never seen a man do this!) Finding her checkbook or bank card then becomes a major search activity. She had been standing there for ten minutes but it never dawned on her that eventually she would need to pay? Some folks are wired differently but the real question is why should I allow her response to make me angry or ruin my day. If she were to follow me around she would no doubt find a few dozen reasons to question how I operate.

The good news for her is typically she is not bothered by her lack of attention to detail and she leaves happy and I leave with a red face and increased blood pressure. Silly? It is but we all tend to go off the deep end over next to nothing. The Bible tells us this: "....bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you." (Colossians 3:13) I don't mind so much the admonition about forgiving and all of that but the example of how we should do this really convicts. How is it that we should bear with others and forgive them? In the same way that the Lord forgave you and I! We did not deserve any consideration at all, but He, by His grace, loved us, died for us, and forgave us. Now that is what I call a tall order but it couldn't be more clear. That's some pretty heady stuff for early on a Thursday morning but being forearmed by knowing this in advance is always better than wishing you could have a do over at the grocery store check out lane, or at the traffic signal, or the drive through at the fast food place, or the white hair driving that car so slowly, and we could go on and on and on. Oh by the way, do you have to keep making that clicking sound with your teeth? Have a blessed day and remember we all suffer from the same condition: The Human Condition! Amen. .....More later.