God's economy

Just read this off a friend's facebook post. It hit home with me, as I am quick to jump when little things annoy me. I get irritated often, just like last night when my oldest jumped on the couch where I had just told her a cup of water sat. Patience was not my strong suit at this moment. I was thinking of God's economy. Fortunately, this helps me to a little more.

A magazine article asked, “How would you respond to this? You ask one of your children to go get a rake, and he dents the car with it as he’s bringing it around.”

I hate to think how I’d respond!

The article advocated viewing such incidents “from God’s eternal perspective,” such as asking, “How much is that dent going to bother me a year from now?” The author said, “In God’s economy, it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.”

It wasn’t long before a test situation arose. I went to take some cheese from the refrigerator and found part of the outside dried out. What a waste of good money! I had purposely bought a larger piece than usual because it was on sale. “Who forgot to put the cheese back in a plastic bag?” I started to bellow accusingly.

I took a second look at the orange wedge on the butcher block. How important would this be in a year?

I trimmed off the dry part and tossed it on the back porch for two grateful cats. Then I sliced some, wrapped the rest, and placed it back in the refrigerator. A reminder was in order for the family. But not a tantrum.

Not in God’s economy, anyway.
Father, please give me Your perspective.
—B. J. CONNOR