Splinters...or is it Slivers?
I was not in a good mood.
Despite the fact that the sun was shining, I was outside, and my stomach was filled with good food--I couldn't seem to get my thoughts off of humdrum school. I tried to understand why I was feeling rather despondent. People say that I'm self-disciplined, productive and ahead of myself. Maybe I am, I don't know. However, when I'm faced with a large amount of things to do (and uninteresting things at that) I get sluggish. Some days I simply find motivation a bit of a hard thing to grasp. When I do find myself with some spare time, I can't enjoy as much as I used to knowing that there's always some school to do. Accelerating college has been great, but it has messed up my concept of youth for the time being. I need to embrace the fact that it's okay to be 15 for a little while.
Back to my not being in a good mood. I went to go lay down on the deck in the sun and probably complain to Mom that I was ready to be done with school and quite fed up with myself. I didn't get that far though. As I was sliding myself down I slide a sliver about 1/2 inch big into my hand.
"Oooh," I half groaned/said.
"Hey Mom, could you pull this out?" I asked, proffering my hand to her inspection.
She didn't see how big it was though and only broke off the top of it leaving the good chances of a clean pull at 0.01%.
"Um, you didn't get it," I mentioned.
On taking a second look at it she realized the depth of the sliver and the situation. I held onto my hand and looked away as she began to try getting the rest of it out.
"Mish, go get the tweezers please!" Mom requested.
She bounded away to retrieve them. Meanwhile I grasped my hand, the pain averting my thoughts from the self-centered and bogged down thoughts I had previously been thinking. Mom couldn't get the splinter with the tweezers so she handed them over to Misha. As Misha grasped onto the top of the splinter I thought of all the Christians that would get bamboo splinters pushed down their fingernails as a form of persecution.
Suddenly it didn't feel so bad.
And then, triumphantly, Misha procured the sliver from my hand and all was well. One bandaid later and I was no longer focused on my situation. I don't know what it is, but when you find yourself in a situation more imminent and painful than the one you were facing previously, you feel empowered to accomplish with a bit more cheer what had seemed at first mere drudgery. So I praised God for the splinter, or sliver, whatever you call it, and continue with my day accomplishing a lot of what needed to be done.
Yes, I sometimes struggle with the blues--but God is always faithful to direct my gaze onto something more brilliant and wonderful: Him. What did I learn from this? Well, besides the fact that I'm not sure whether you call it a "splinter" or a "sliver"--I also learned that when I'm down in the dumps I should try to get a different perspective on the situation. Por ejemplo: "Ugh, I've got a ten-paged paper to do today--but hey, at least I'm not having to walk ten miles to get dirty drinking water!"
And I learned that no matter what your situation, whether you're discouraged or tired or suffering persecution, God is always there--even when we aren't faithful, He is. And He loves us so much that sometimes even splinters turn into little reminders to focus more on Him.
On a side note, I am really enjoying this song right now.
Despite the fact that the sun was shining, I was outside, and my stomach was filled with good food--I couldn't seem to get my thoughts off of humdrum school. I tried to understand why I was feeling rather despondent. People say that I'm self-disciplined, productive and ahead of myself. Maybe I am, I don't know. However, when I'm faced with a large amount of things to do (and uninteresting things at that) I get sluggish. Some days I simply find motivation a bit of a hard thing to grasp. When I do find myself with some spare time, I can't enjoy as much as I used to knowing that there's always some school to do. Accelerating college has been great, but it has messed up my concept of youth for the time being. I need to embrace the fact that it's okay to be 15 for a little while.
Back to my not being in a good mood. I went to go lay down on the deck in the sun and probably complain to Mom that I was ready to be done with school and quite fed up with myself. I didn't get that far though. As I was sliding myself down I slide a sliver about 1/2 inch big into my hand.
"Oooh," I half groaned/said.
"Hey Mom, could you pull this out?" I asked, proffering my hand to her inspection.
She didn't see how big it was though and only broke off the top of it leaving the good chances of a clean pull at 0.01%.
"Um, you didn't get it," I mentioned.
On taking a second look at it she realized the depth of the sliver and the situation. I held onto my hand and looked away as she began to try getting the rest of it out.
"Mish, go get the tweezers please!" Mom requested.
She bounded away to retrieve them. Meanwhile I grasped my hand, the pain averting my thoughts from the self-centered and bogged down thoughts I had previously been thinking. Mom couldn't get the splinter with the tweezers so she handed them over to Misha. As Misha grasped onto the top of the splinter I thought of all the Christians that would get bamboo splinters pushed down their fingernails as a form of persecution.
Suddenly it didn't feel so bad.
And then, triumphantly, Misha procured the sliver from my hand and all was well. One bandaid later and I was no longer focused on my situation. I don't know what it is, but when you find yourself in a situation more imminent and painful than the one you were facing previously, you feel empowered to accomplish with a bit more cheer what had seemed at first mere drudgery. So I praised God for the splinter, or sliver, whatever you call it, and continue with my day accomplishing a lot of what needed to be done.
Yes, I sometimes struggle with the blues--but God is always faithful to direct my gaze onto something more brilliant and wonderful: Him. What did I learn from this? Well, besides the fact that I'm not sure whether you call it a "splinter" or a "sliver"--I also learned that when I'm down in the dumps I should try to get a different perspective on the situation. Por ejemplo: "Ugh, I've got a ten-paged paper to do today--but hey, at least I'm not having to walk ten miles to get dirty drinking water!"
And I learned that no matter what your situation, whether you're discouraged or tired or suffering persecution, God is always there--even when we aren't faithful, He is. And He loves us so much that sometimes even splinters turn into little reminders to focus more on Him.
On a side note, I am really enjoying this song right now.
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