“YOU CALL THIS A GIFT?”

you call this a giftI’m wise enough and too blessed to feel sorry for myself at this point in my life, but it was one of those monster weeks that seemed to have my head on a swivel as the fist of life pummeled me at will. One of the punches was our middle daughter who had just graduated from college took a position out of town. We expected her to stay around here…

That same week our youngest daughter was flexing her then fourteen-year-old mental muscle, probably the stress of her big sister leaving, but it wore on us, especially my wife. The dreaded week also came with bad news from my attorney on a business related matter, but it was Friday and I was looking forward to the weekend to regather my battered brain.

That’s when our youngest brought in the mail which I pay little attention to… until my wife handed me a personal letter – addressed by me… to me… Before I opened it up I knew what was hidden behind the folded paper and glue.

“Could-uh done without that today,” I said.

“What is it?” my wife asked.

“Another rejection letter,” my voice admitted with little surprise or emotion. I opened the letter and read it, “I’ll add this to my stack,” I mumbled to myself.

I headed for my den to drop the letter on my desk as I thought about the week. None of the events were so life altering as to warrant an undue amount of grim. I thought back to the origin of my statement to my wife, “Could-uh done without that today,” and smiled. My smile started to evolve into a chuckle, then launched into a full-blown laugh.

I thought about the line from that silly movie, “Tommy Boy.” The late Chris Farley played Tommy whose dad had just passed away and the bank was selling his dad’s auto parts manufacturing empire to pay off the bank-note. The only way Tommy Boy could save the family business was to sell a large number of parts but had just failed at that, temporarily.

As the over weight Tommy Boy plopped down in a sturdy chair at the end of the last failed day in frustration, the chair collapsed… then the now famous, at least to me, comment, “Could-uh done without that today!” I came back into the kitchen laughing and shared with my wife my thoughts. She looked at me, still a bit taken back by the way my mind ticks.

I’ve lived long enough to know that most problems aren’t worth the energy we spend on them. The only issues that had any true lasting significance were the ones that affected and impacted my family. The other stuff? Pebbles in the road of life… just pebbles in the road of life, my friends.

Jesus Christ laid it out plainly, “Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow.” Time and energy spent in worry is fear. We fear the things that God either causes or allows. When we fear or revere the things of this world more than God himself, there is no peace. Peace comes from God in the form of wisdom that He fills His chosen with.

There are many things in the course of my days I think I could do without, but it is those things that try to test us that God uses for our benefit… and His glory. Besides, perseverance is a gift… and who am I to say “no” to a gift from my Father?