SQUEAKS AND RATTLES
A while back, a friend of mine bought a brand new expensive car. It was an amazing car with all the bells and whistles plus the fully trimmed leather interior with real wood dash. The day he bought it, he brought the car by the church for us to see. He was so proud and happy to get the car of his dreams.
About a month later, he picked me for a lunch appointment. As we drove down the road, I noticed that he had little papers stuck in crevices all over the real wood dash. It resembled a smaller version of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem where prayer requests are written on small bits of paper and stuck into any opening in the Wall you could find.
My friend noticed my bewilderment and explained that there are several “squeaks” and “rattles” in the dash and he was trying to isolate the noise. He would put a piece of paper in the suspected place where the racket came from. As we drove along, he heard another noise that made him angry and he began to pound on the real wood dash.
The insignificant had become an obsession with him. He owned an expensive automobile that few can afford, and he was totally distracted with some barely discernable vibrations in the dash. He could not enjoy the ride because he was always tracking down the irritations. At one point he even said, “I manage a successful business. My employees do as I ask. But I cannot even control the noise in my own dashboard.”
What an astounding revelation of life. The uncontrollables can rob us of our joy! We can fixate on the little gnawing things, and totally miss the wonderful things God has provided for us. Too often we focus on the insignificant at the cost of the profound! Distracted drivers can wreck expensive cars and destroy precious lives. Lapses in attention can impair performance. Cognitive overload sinks creativity.
We read in the Song of Solomon 2:15, “The little foxes can spoil the vine.” Let us be careful to thank the Lord every day for all He has done, even if our life is not perfect. How sad it is to spend our days frustrated with the “squeaks” and “rattles” in the dash, when God has been so faithful to us. Think it over.