I’m happy to report that my ability to type the elusive letter that falls between an O and a Q has been restored thanks to a quick trip to the local Office Max. The new keyboard is successfully installed and functioning. Yay! Losing the ability to use my P key last week was a tiny hassle in the grand scheme of things. Minuscule and unimportant. Yet, it derailed the plans I had for the whole morning. The long term effects of it weren’t hugely impactful, but it did cost me a trip across the island and a small hit out of the checking account to fix.
Little tiny pebbles create ripples. This particular pebble was no big deal, really, and its ripples inconsequential. When I got home Monday afternoon, I spent three minutes unplugging the old and plugging in the new, and it is likely I won’t think about my P key again for a long time.
How many tiny blessings do I overlook? When I consider my P experience, I wonder if there really is such a thing as a tiny blessing. Or, are there blessings that I just miss? This is Christmas week. Saturday is Christmas Eve and Sunday we celebrate the Birth of Jesus. I’m certain that lots of people saw the bright star in the night sky and either stopped to stare for a minute and then went inside to watch TV, or didn’t even notice it at all. Maybe there was a family living close to the fields where the shepherds were watching their flocks or a traveler on the road nearby. Did they see a bit of “the glory of the Lord” that shone around the angel or hear the noise of the great company of the heavenly host saying “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests”? Did that impact their lives or did they dismiss it as just another interruption of the peace? Did they miss the blessing or ignore the ripples it caused?
Certainly, the birth of the Creator of the Universe as a human infant is not a tiny blessing. His coming and His willingness to take on our sins and pay the price for them is the greatest blessing ever. We have hope because of His Love for us and His willingness to suffer for us. That’s a blessing that is difficult to dismiss. But, after celebrating sixty Christmases, after the work Christmas (as I have made it) takes – the cards and gifts and decorating and cookies and food and caroling and shopping and wrapping…. do I miss it? I do stop and think about Jesus’ birth. But do I think about the tiny, P sized blessings of the Christmas season and the rest of the year that effect others? Have I considered how small acts I can do this week and in all the weeks might ripple out and be a blessing to someone else? Hmm. That’s a keeper idea. Okay, gotta go. Gotta go be a functioning P on the keyboard of humanity!
Merry Christmas!
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