Windshield Wipers!

Very early yesterday morning, while it was still pitch black out, I drove home from Pinehurst in my son's car. My husband and I had gone down there for a parent dinner for the players in a golf tournament, but I had to leave really early (as in 4:45 a.m.!) to get home in time to take care of our younger two boys and get them where they needed to go. I learned a hard lesson in the wee hours: always determine where the windshield wipers are located on a car before you drive it! Yesterday morning as I drove home, I noticed it was a little damp outside, but nothing major--I figured it had rained the night before. The road, a fairly narrow one with almost no shoulder, was extremely dark. After driving for about 15 minutes, it started to rain. I felt around for the windshield wipers, but everything I pushed or pulled had no effect, and I couldn't find anywhere to turn off the road. No big deal, though, since I could still see through the rain, though it was growing increasingly difficult.

I soldiered on, squinting through the rain covered windshield, but I remained pretty calm, assuming the rain would stop any minute.

It didn't. In fact, it got heavier and heavier until it was a downpour, and I could see nothing except the faint red glow of the car's taillights in front of me. I honestly have never felt such terror--I could see virtually nothing, I was completely unfamiliar with the road, and I had no where to pull over or turn off. I was creeping along on the narrow highway and cars were speeding by as I prayed over and over, "Help me Lord. Help me Lord. Help me Lord."

Finally I faintly saw a sign for an exit, and I slowly eased off the road. I could just glimpse the neon lights of a gas station through the darkness and the rain shrouded windshield. I pulled in and within a moment or two, I figured out how to turn on the windshield wipers. Glory hallelujah!! Who knew windshield wipers were such wonderful, fabulous, life-saving devices?! Not me... until now! What a mundane, boring, unappreciated little piece of equipment that no one ever thinks much about on their car--until they really need it.

I couldn't help but think of Zechariah 4:10 "Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel." The Lord is telling His people that He will enable them to rebuild the temple out of the rubble of Jerusalem, and no detail is too small or too insignificant. Though it seemed impossible, the Lord reminds them "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." (Zech. 4:6)

How thankful I am that we serve a God who does not "despise the day of small things." Small jobs, small people, small accomplishments, small annoyances, small obstacles, small tasks. He sees all; He knows all; He can do all by His power and not by our might. He created the tiniest cell and the farthest star. He loves the greatest and the lowliest. He sees the biggest and the most insignificant of our challenges and accomplishments. And He enables us to face and conquer the highest mountain and the littlest molehill. It may seem insignificant and mundane to others, but not to our Lord.

And who is to say that in the end, what we often view as the most significant will be, in the eyes of God, of far less importance. And what is the least will be the greatest. All I know is that I will never underestimate the importance and benefit of windshield wipers again! As I go about my small, everyday tasks, might I recall that if God does not despise them, then neither should I. And when I do them for His glory and in His power, they are imbued with eternal significance. So thank You Lord for windshield wipers and for all the small things in our lives that we so often take for granted! To God be the glory.