Too Intense
June 8, 2021 by Peter Lundell
Filed under Daily Devotions, Humorous
By Peter Lundell –
Minneapolis Airport. In front of restrooms. A man walked by talking intensely on his cell phone. Some kind of processor reacted differently at higher temperatures. Really important stuff. The man was intense.
So intense that he marched right into the women’s restroom.
My jaw dropped, along with the jaw of another guy who was watching. “Did he just . . . ?”
“Yeah, he did.”
A lady walked out. No guy. Another lady, straight-faced as the first. Were they as obliviously focused on themselves as he was on his conversation?
Finally the guy came out. Still on the phone! My jaw dropped again.
He skulked around the corner of a service entry and appeared to hide, probably embarrassed. At least I hadn’t heard any screams. We continued to gawk as I imagined it wouldn’t have gone very well for him to admit during such a serious business call that he’d just walked into the Ladies’ room. I briefly meditated on that thought.
I saw a sharp contrast: On one hand, we can get so serious about ourselves and what we think is important. On the other hand, we can do mindlessly dumb things in the process.
Have you ever done something dumb, or made a bad decision, or hurt someone because you took yourself and what you were doing too seriously?
I’m all for striving and achieving, but not at the expense of family, or faith, or fully living. Try this: If you’re in danger of getting so focused on yourself or your own interests that you lose sight of things and people around you, ask yourself this question:
“What is God’s perspective on what I’m doing?”
PRAYER: Lord, work in me a heart of wisdom that I would live each day with Your perspective. May I see as You see, and may I think and act as You would have me.
“The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. . . .Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:10, 12 NIV).