Ms. Fix-it

A loose hair on a black sweater; a collar that is uneven; a tag sticking out of the back neck of a t-shirt: these insignificant aesthetic issues disturb me.  They must be fixed, and I’m  just the one to do it.  I look at it as unsought kindness, a favor that I do for the world.  Not that I’m a bold person, but I feel it to be my duty to let people know (that is unless I can fix it without their knowledge).  A few more off the short list would be lipstick on the tooth, an attached hair out of place (obvious place), an out of control nose hair (this one I admit is reserved only for family…if you’re not my family, you’re on your own), a dark smudge on the forehead (yes, it was a complete stranger who was clothes shopping in the same department as I.  And I’m here to say, I do now know about Ash Wednesday!)

Fixing things is just my nature.  I don’t like for things to be amiss!  When it comes to people whose lives are out of whirl, the pressure increases in my world.  It gets very hard to bear.  However, God does not put that pressure on us.  We most of the time do it to ourselves.  He has given to us the greatest privilege in the world at our fingertips: ask God.  He did not intend for us to fix the world.  That is impossible.  Yes, it is broken, but we can’t fix it.  Jesus already made that provision.  And we do have responsibility to “bear one another's burdens” and to “pray without ceasing”.  But to try to fix everybody that’s broken in our world is not possible.     

"For nothing is impossible with God."  We are to go to the God of all creation with all our burdens and the burdens of others.  James says, “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  The two adjectives in that verse are such that we can expect results.  God transforms, changes, makes new, “fixes”.  He does indeed use us and He will lead us when the time comes.  It is “our reasonable service.”  But it is not a list we grab and get to work on.  It is a privilege given by God as we seek Him.

Scripture References in order: Galatians 6:2;  1 Thessalonians 5:17; Luke 1:37 (also in Matthew 19:26)  James 5:16; Romans 12:1.