Sufficient Evil

Every Monday we’ll post something to do with maintaining sexual purity. Hope it helps.

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Sufficient Evil

Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. – Matthew 6:34

I know something’s wrong when I repeatedly wake up wondering how I’m ever gonna make it. Too much work to do; too many projects on the back burner; too much me that’s still out of whack. There’s an hour or so, usually between 2 and 3am while it’s still dark, when I sigt bolt upright, wide awake, listing, wondering, worrying. It’s the familiar panic (familiar to me, anyway) I used to feel when working as a checkout clerk in a convenience store. People would at times flood the place, creating a long line of irritated murmurers who expected a quick stop and instead wound up waiting. And the drumbeat would begin in my head: Everyone’s waiting for you; you’re behind; faster, dog, faster! Ridiculous, of course, and more than little neurotic, but there it is. When the line gets long, I freak.

Our lines get long. I don’t know anyone, friend, client or associate, who doesn’t have a plate fuller than their stomach can handle. Which is to say responsibilities pile up, projects get behind, some people get miffed and others feel neglected. Prioritizing helps, but doesn’t cure, the problem. There’s simply more facing us in a 24 hour period than we feel ready for, and that’s not even taking into consideration the temptation factor. We can count on a parade of visuals dancing around our heads or our thoughts; a truckload of irritants just daring us to blow up and lash out; a line of disgruntled bills, projects, unreturned calls and neglected commitments taping their feet and checking their watches while we scramble to get to all of them. The temptation to despair and cave in may be the final, ultimate enticement. The line’s too long; I can’t do it all.

And there, of course, is the problem. Jesus didn’t teach us to focus on the volume of customers waiting, but rather on the one we’re dealing with now. The work of the day, whether the work of duty or sanctification, is limited even when the challenges seem infinite. And the Boss, wiser and more attuned to our limitations then we usually credit Him for, never asked us to do it all, conquer it all, resist it all in a day.

So the question for the Disciple becomes: What have I been given today to deal with, and how, by His grace and strength, can I do it most effectively? The time’s He’s allotted me is limited, and no overtime’s being required of me. So for today, I take each customer as he comes, handle the transaction required with due diligence, accept the fact that some customers will take longer (and require waaaaaaay more patience and grace than others) and ask of myself only that I handle the ones I’m able to within the given work day.

I know how I feel when my son seems exhausted or overwhelmed by the responsibilities he’s allotted. The last thing I want is for him to view his life as an obstacle course of stressors to jump and conflicts to manage, though Lord knows he’ll have plenty of both. But at the end of the day, I fervently pray he’s aware of his value, peaceful in God’s grace, and loving the life he’s been given. If not then I frankly feel insulted, and hurt, because I’m no tyrant demanding impossibilities, and I hate to feel my beloved boy might see himself under a tyrant’s rule.

So today, I’ll strive not to insult my own Father with anxiety. He’s not given me more than I can handle – I’ve only assumed, too many times, that the long line in front of me needs to be thinned down immediately. He’s a good master, fair and gentle, and today, I’ll ask Him to help me remember His nature, His care for His own, and His commandment to accept the day’s challenges as a sufficient evil to address, conquer, then leave behind with the peace that does indeed pass all understanding.