A Needle's Eye View

 

A man gets home after a long, stressful day at work, and instead of giving a loving hello to his wife, he proceeds to focus on all the things she has failed to do. He begins, “Where is my blue shirt? I needed it for tomorrow and you didn’t clean it, and who’s watching the TV?” The wife replied, “No one is watching TV.” The husband continues on to say, “Why is the television on when I thought we were trying to save money on the electricity bill, and why are there light’s on in the rooms that no one’s even in?” The wife stares silently at her husband in frustration, and wait for him to stop ranting. Finally, he asks, “What’s wrong?” She replies, “I have been working hard all day to clean this house up for you. I vacuumed, dusted, did dishes, cleaned the kitchen, made beds, took out the trash, and all you noticed when you walked in the door was the negative.”

The husband in this story was so blinded by the negative things in his life that he hadn’t even taken the time to notice all the good that surrounded him. Much like the husband, we, as humans, are often so blinded by the negative in our lives, that we forget to enjoy the many goods and blessings that God bestows upon us.

I notice that, in my own life, it only takes one bad thing, like taking a test I didn’t prepare for or even one harsh word, to completely set me off in the wrong direction. I get frustrated with, overwhelmed by, and hyper focused on, whatever my problem is to the extent where I am oblivious to anything good that God is putting in front of me. I mean honestly, sometimes I get so distracted by the negative in my life that He could be putting my favorite food in front of me, and I probably wouldn’t even notice.

During a conversation with my dear friend about “where we had seen God today”, we got on the topic of change and how narrow minded we can be. He said, “Wanting change isn’t the hard part, wanting to sacrifice for change is… and even though in the big picture they don’t seem like sacrifices, they seem pretty big to us. I guess it’s just because people go around looking at the world, but it’s like they’re only seeing through the eye of a needle.”

Let’s focus in on that last part that says, “seeing through the eye of a needle”.  I feel like oftentimes, when we focus too closely on a problem we blow it out of proportion because we are seeing it through narrowed vision. For example, the other day I couldn’t find my driver’s license, like, anywhere! When I realized that I had lost it I was freaking out and looking anywhere I could have possibly left it (just to let you know, keeping any form of I.D. in your running short’s pocket and then doing cartwheels around on a field at night time, isn’t such a great idea because you’ll probably never get it back). Me, being a teenager and all, my license is my ticket to freedom, and without it I was pretty much back to being stuck at home, which let me tell you, was enough to make me blow this problem out of proportion. What was I going to do? How early did I have to start waking up so that my mom could take me to school? How on earth was I going to get to Church that night? I escalated the problem when, really in the long run, losing my license wasn’t a big deal. Yes, my mom had to drive me to school; however, all I had to do was go to the DMV and get my license replaced.

In Matthew 6:27 it is written, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” One of the best ways to zoom out from our problems is to give thanks to God. I feel like it always helps me to start counting my blessings because it reminds me not to set aside those infinite good things just to focus on the bad. Listing off things that you’re thankful for, in your head or on paper, helps you better see how your problem affects you and how much greater the blessings God has for you are than your problems. For me, simple things like blue skies, friend’s laughter, good hugs, or even just the fact that I woke up again this morning, are things that always show me how blessed I am.

 

In 1 Chronicles 16:8-10 it says, “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.”

 

 And in verses 12:28-29 in the book of Hebrews it is written, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

                Thanking God not only brings us comfort and joy, but it brings God to the forefront in our mind. I challenge you, whenever faced with a problem, instead of saying “Why me?” just say “Thank you.” Give thanks to God, and stop looking through the eye of a needle.