Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA.
It is said that cleanliness is next to godliness.
If that is the case, then my desk is no heavenly dwelling.
Now I must confess that it is not all my fault.
My desk is like Grand Central Station.
It is a cross roads for all activity happening at my work site.
The avalanche usually occurs every Sunday.
Receipts, messages, files, the kitchen sink,
you name it,
all magically appear on my desk to greet me.
Sometimes I get lucky
and things like gifts or candy
end up on the massive sprawl.
It usually takes till Tuesday for me to reach the bottom of my desk.
Some may say that I am disorganized,
but the truth is that my desk is merely a reflection
of my many layered job.
I admit that sometimes I don't find
the scribbled note on a torn off piece of napkin
to "call me immediately" dated on Sunday,
until Thursday.
And there are times
that I don't notice the piece of cake left for me,
until it has hardened enough to become a hockey puck.
But mostly,
my desk is a highly functional
place of organized chaos....
and it suits me well.
That is, except for the desk gremlin.
You know who I mean.
I think it is the same creature as the attic gremlin,
the little guy that messes with the Christmas lights in the attic
so that lines that worked when they were stored in January,
no longer work by the next December.
The desk gremlin is a bit more aggressive.
Though I have never seen him,
I know he has been there.
He is the one who takes all my paper clips
and links them together.
Who has time to do that?
Apparently the desk gremlin does.
He is also the one
who takes my phone cord
and uses it for a jump rope contest
so that when I am ready to make a call,
it is tied up in more knots then are seen at a boy scout convention.
I guess gremlins need aerobic exercise too.
And when it comes to my stapler,
let's just say there are more jams there
then on the DC beltway at rush hour.
But the most troubling activity of my little desk gremlin,
is the tape dispenser.
My desk is like a dispensary shop.
Scissors, tape dispensers, staplers, markers, pens
all come and go.
Eventually they find there way back.
But it's how the tape dispenser comes back
that is the masterful deviousness of the desk gremlin.
Apparently the desk gremlin
has a lot of work to do in the area of adhesives,
for he often uses up the entire roll of tape.
Now I don't mind that he is determined
to tape the entire world together,
but when he throws out the empty tape roll,
does he really need to throw out the plastic coil???
For those that understand
the engineering marvel that is the tape dispenser,
you know exactly what I am saying.
It's that small piece of plastic
the the tape roll slips onto
so that the dispenser can actually dispense.
I have three dispensers sitting in my office
that no longer have the plastic coil.
Like the baby being thrown out with the bathwater,
the plastic coils have been tossed out with empty tape roll.
Now this may not seem like such a big deal...
after all, it's just a tiny piece of plastic.
But here is the reality........
Tape dispensers without the coil are USELESS.
Oh, you might be able to use them as paperweights,
or perhaps a doorstop.
I even thought of making them into Santa sleighs for Christmas.
I hate to throw them away,
but they simply don't work without the coil.
Sometimes the most seemingly insignificant things
have the greatest value.
An anonymous act of kindness
that lifts the spirit of a discouraged person.
A smile offered to a passerby,
rather than avoidance of eye contact.
A small gift given
when there is little to give.
The widow in the Scriptures
was told of the great value of her mite.
The smallest mustard seed of faith
can grow into a tree.
Little things that don't seem so important
are the essentials of the Kingdom of God.
The next time you hear a little gremlin
telling you that you are insignificant little coil on the big desktop of life,
that you can be tossed away, and that no one would miss you.....
take one of my useless dispensers and throw it at him.
See, everything does have a purpose.
And so do you!
Truly I say to you,
this poor widow put in more than
all the contributors to the treasury;
for they put in out of their surplus,
but she out of her poverty,
put in all she owned,
all she had to live on.
Mark 12:43-44
It is said that cleanliness is next to godliness.
If that is the case, then my desk is no heavenly dwelling.
Now I must confess that it is not all my fault.
My desk is like Grand Central Station.
It is a cross roads for all activity happening at my work site.
The avalanche usually occurs every Sunday.
Receipts, messages, files, the kitchen sink,
you name it,
all magically appear on my desk to greet me.
Sometimes I get lucky
and things like gifts or candy
end up on the massive sprawl.
It usually takes till Tuesday for me to reach the bottom of my desk.
Some may say that I am disorganized,
but the truth is that my desk is merely a reflection
of my many layered job.
I admit that sometimes I don't find
the scribbled note on a torn off piece of napkin
to "call me immediately" dated on Sunday,
until Thursday.
And there are times
that I don't notice the piece of cake left for me,
until it has hardened enough to become a hockey puck.
But mostly,
my desk is a highly functional
place of organized chaos....
and it suits me well.
That is, except for the desk gremlin.
You know who I mean.
I think it is the same creature as the attic gremlin,
the little guy that messes with the Christmas lights in the attic
so that lines that worked when they were stored in January,
no longer work by the next December.
The desk gremlin is a bit more aggressive.
Though I have never seen him,
I know he has been there.
He is the one who takes all my paper clips
and links them together.
Who has time to do that?
Apparently the desk gremlin does.
He is also the one
who takes my phone cord
and uses it for a jump rope contest
so that when I am ready to make a call,
it is tied up in more knots then are seen at a boy scout convention.
I guess gremlins need aerobic exercise too.
And when it comes to my stapler,
let's just say there are more jams there
then on the DC beltway at rush hour.
But the most troubling activity of my little desk gremlin,
is the tape dispenser.
My desk is like a dispensary shop.
Scissors, tape dispensers, staplers, markers, pens
all come and go.
Eventually they find there way back.
But it's how the tape dispenser comes back
that is the masterful deviousness of the desk gremlin.
Apparently the desk gremlin
has a lot of work to do in the area of adhesives,
for he often uses up the entire roll of tape.
Now I don't mind that he is determined
to tape the entire world together,
but when he throws out the empty tape roll,
does he really need to throw out the plastic coil???
For those that understand
the engineering marvel that is the tape dispenser,
you know exactly what I am saying.
It's that small piece of plastic
the the tape roll slips onto
so that the dispenser can actually dispense.
I have three dispensers sitting in my office
that no longer have the plastic coil.
Like the baby being thrown out with the bathwater,
the plastic coils have been tossed out with empty tape roll.
Now this may not seem like such a big deal...
after all, it's just a tiny piece of plastic.
But here is the reality........
Tape dispensers without the coil are USELESS.
Oh, you might be able to use them as paperweights,
or perhaps a doorstop.
I even thought of making them into Santa sleighs for Christmas.
I hate to throw them away,
but they simply don't work without the coil.
Sometimes the most seemingly insignificant things
have the greatest value.
An anonymous act of kindness
that lifts the spirit of a discouraged person.
A smile offered to a passerby,
rather than avoidance of eye contact.
A small gift given
when there is little to give.
The widow in the Scriptures
was told of the great value of her mite.
The smallest mustard seed of faith
can grow into a tree.
Little things that don't seem so important
are the essentials of the Kingdom of God.
The next time you hear a little gremlin
telling you that you are insignificant little coil on the big desktop of life,
that you can be tossed away, and that no one would miss you.....
take one of my useless dispensers and throw it at him.
See, everything does have a purpose.
And so do you!
Truly I say to you,
this poor widow put in more than
all the contributors to the treasury;
for they put in out of their surplus,
but she out of her poverty,
put in all she owned,
all she had to live on.
Mark 12:43-44
.
1 comment:
I know one thing for sure, if a piece of cake or some cookies were laid on your brother's desk, he would find them long before they became hockey pucks. In fact, cookies and cake would never even make it to his desk. He would eat them before they were even placed on his desk. One thing that I kwow for sure about your brother is that he loves his cookies and cake - and everyone else's too.:)When Pastor Robert is around, you have to watch all the cookies and cake that is within a ten mile radius. He will find them and he WILL eat them.
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