That's it, submerged in rice. We're hoping for a miraculous removal of moisture and a revival of service. So far, it's not looking too promising. Let me explain--
Yesterday, I dropped my cell phone in a glass of water. Yeah, yeah, I know that sounds ridiculously lame, but it's true. I was intently reading something and not paying attention, and what can I say? This space cadet put my phone down in a small glass of water I was drinking at the time. I share this to make everyone else feel great about themselves. I know what you're thinking right now. Gee, I may be forgetful, I may be out to lunch sometimes, I may be disorganized, I may even be exhausted... but I'm doing waaaaay better than that nincompoop.
I'm just all about trying to encourage everyone else here, so I'm glad to make anyone reading this feel enormously better about yourselves. You're welcome. Maybe next week I can write about misplacing my car or calling my children by the dog's name or once again forgetting about the tooth fairy for my youngest child. (By the way, did you know the tooth fairy often likes to put a dollar in the oddest places--mailboxes, microwaves...she's a tricky one, that tooth fairy. At least in our house.)
Sure it's funny. Ha ha. My husband is really laughing since he relishes the prospect of perhaps having to spend money again replacing my cell phone.
But here's the thing--it has been, shall we say, a bit of a stressor for me. You just don't realize how important your cell phone is to you until you have it fly off the hood of your car on the highway (see blog post many months ago) or drop it in a glass of water or maybe just plain old lose it somewhere in the wild blue yonder (not that this has ever happened in our house. O nooooo.)
I found myself worrying over who might be calling or texting me and assuming I'm just plain rude since I don't respond to them. O gracious--that makes me feel wretched. Or what if one of my children is trying to reach me--by text of course since all young people seem to have lost the art of actually using their voices to talk on the phone. Or what if I need my contacts or need to call someone on my way to the grocery store or... Well, the possibilities for disaster are simply endless.
By the way, please note where we happened to put the cell phone in the rice--right in front of my favorite verse displayed on our kitchen counter. "Be anxious for nothing, but in all things give thanks." The Lord has such a sense of humor! I had been both anxious and ungrateful. But our forever faithful Father got me back on the right track and had me thanking Him--even for another day of pouring rain and broken cell phones. He's always teaching us, isn't He?
Here's what God's Word says: "Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications! The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him." (Ps. 28:6-7)
"It is better to trust in the Lord that to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." (Ps. 118:8-9)
How prone we (or at least yours truly) are to put our confidence in all these lesser idols in our lives! Trusting in our cell phones. Trusting in our abilities. Trusting in our finances. Trusting in our healthy lifestyles. Trusting in our accolades. Trusting in our children's success. Trusting in others to make us feel validated. Trusting in other's opinions of us. Trusting in our possessions.
And it occurred to me: it's easy to identify an idol in your life by how it makes you feel when that possession or person or purpose in life is taken away or threatened in any way. Yeah, I know a cell phone is a silly example, but boy, we can be so quick to start depending upon all these ultimately lesser and infinitely inferior idols in our lives to provide comfort or worth or wisdom or pleasure.
But idols do nothing but steal our joy, rob our peace, and most tragically of all, thwart our loving and intimate relationship with the Lord who made us and longs to walk with us. We throw away the priceless gift of intimacy with and worship of the Almighty for a sham idol that will always, and I mean always, ultimately disappoint and crush us. It's like trading a piece of chewed-up gum for a priceless pearl. Or as C.S Lewis so famously put it--trading a splash in a little mud puddle for a spectacular holiday at the beautiful beach. Time to stop making that trade, don't you think?
So Lord, thank You that You are the One "who hears the voice of my supplications." No one else need hear my voice on the cell phone! If I am heard by You, then that is enough. That is more than enough--that is glorious! Help us trust in You, in You alone, and not in all those little idols in our lives that do nothing but rob, steal, and destroy. You are our strength and shield, and in You, our hearts rejoice. To God be the glory.
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