"Bigger Fish to Fry"

In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord. Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:4-8 NIV).

Summer is over half over! The time seems to be flying by and the faster I go the more frustrating it can be to not get everything done that I really want to do! At least once a day, I have to sit myself down and remind myself that there really are some “bigger fish to fry.” A lot of the things I feel I need to do, once I have reevaluated each, become less and less of a priority.

The past few weeks have been especially like that. Many of you know that one of the therapeutic treatments that I have for my hemachromatosis is to regularly give blood. At least once every eight weeks I need to get rid of a pint of blood. It’s the only way to control the level of iron in my body. Up until a month ago I had no problem just breezing into the local blood bank and donating a unit of blood. However, I was informed that a new decision had been made and they were no longer going to be able to accept my donation. There had been a change in the status because of new FDA recommendations. That meant I needed a standing doctor’s order to get the blood taken at a hematologist (I know… one more “ologist” in my life). Well, that really shouldn’t be much of a problem, except through a series of events, doctor on vacation, no one to cover non-emergency issues, etc., it took nearly a month and more phone conversations that I care to comment about to finally get it done!

So, here’s the point. As I was driving back from a meeting in Nashville, I was thinking of all the things I needed to get done and God reminded me that some things are more important than others. This problem would be solved in due course and nothing I could do would hurry it along. However, I thought that since I had a little extra time appear on my calendar, it would be a good time to see if I could drop by and see the kids. I called Kyle and discovered they were about to leave for Logan’s Tae Kwon Do class which was just a few minutes away from where I was at the time. I asked if I could join them and watch. Of course the answer was yes. The whole time I watched I realized that there really couldn’t have been a better use of my time.

Then an epiphany took place. You know, the more I worry about the “big” problems I need to solve and the huge list of priorities to be completed, the more it takes me away from THE priority of life. Truthfully, I have no problems AT ALL to solve. Sure, there are lots of things to be done. But the Lord has all of that under control. I merely need to take the next steps He has given me and concentrate on what really matters – my relationship with Him and my family! Here’s the promise again: I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Now let’s fry the big fish!