Musings;07/25/08, Moving Minutiae, by John.

Musings;07/25/08,Moving Minutiae

We've reached that point in our move when minutiae become quite important. The placement of furniture comes first. Then, small repairs on things damaged in the move, things that we must use. After that, with aching muscles and numb minds, we begin with minutiae. Where are the bathroom scales? What did we do with the copy paper? What cabinet are you putting the plates in, and where is the coffee? (Very important to me). All of these little things pile in and the minutiae begin to look like mountains! Actually, not the heaviest, but the most time consuming part of moving is wrapped up in getting all the things placed where they will do the most good, not be in the way, and will be fairly presentable to the eye.

We are in that process, and all of it seems to repress our spiritual activities, but does it? Well, it certainly can, but it should bring out our resourcefulness. We should recognize it as part of our daily Christian lives.

I've always tried to be ready when someone has an emergency, or some other important need. Sometimes those things happen in my study time or quiet time. Sometime they happen during family time. We should be close enough to the Lord to overcome the loss of those precious moments, and our families and friends should be ready to help with everything that lands on our busy schedule.

Life is full of things we think of as minutiae, relatively unimportant. What moment of the day does not belong to the Lord? What action of our lives can we divorce from the Spirit of God? When we step off the narrow road that leads to salvation making a side trip into sin, and we are out of God's will. Perhaps during those times, some believe we should not expect the Spirit's leadership, but He will lead! That's one of the things He came into our lives to do, and He does not stop just because we wander off the path to glory! He leads us back into the way, maybe with a heavy hand, but sometimes with a gentle prod in the right direction like the "still small voice" that spoke to Elijah.

We can rebel against His leadership, and I'm sure all of us do at times, but no matter how far we go, there will be a turning point. We call that repentance. When we turn toward God seeking His face and confessing our sin, He will be right there! He is omnipresent, a big word saying there's no place you can go that God is not. When you turn from yourself, you will be facing God no matter what direction that may be.

David stated the situation well in Psalm 139: 7-10. It says: "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

I find I must welcome the minutiae of life because in every tiny item God is there with me, and He works it out for my, or someone's good. Ray Palmer wrote the words to "My Faith Looks Up to Thee," a hymn we sing. The first verse says, "My faith looks up to thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine! Now hear me while I pray, Take all my guilt away, O let me from this day be wholly Thine." That includes all minutiae.