Gnats and toilet paper. . .

I am sitting here after having waged a full-out, frontal attack, nothing short of war. . .on gnats. I have become so frustrated with trying to eradicate the little bugs and even more frustrated with myself for becoming increasingly frustrated with their continued existence on the planet, and in my kitchen. Its just, well, frustrating.

Yes, I have searched the internet and tried every tip there is, no matter how ridulous. These are just bionic bugs. They refuse to die. My anger and irritation mounts with every sighting.

Then there is the toilet paper issue. Have you ever noticed that a household always seems to

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run out of toilet paper just when it is absolutely necessary not to run out? I have even been known to keep spare rolls hidden (or what I thought was hidden) for emergencies. I'm not sure if the toilet paper issue irritates me more than the gnats, it may be a toss-up.

My point is, I seem to be so easily "besetted" by these little things. The big things, the things that we know can only be faced with faith and trust in the Lord, seem somehow easier to cast upon Him than all the little things.

Yet, I am absolutely certain that the Lord is just as concerned about my desire to be rid of the gnats as He is my desire for my last lab tests to come back OK. I know He wants to meet and supply my needs for toilet paper just as He does and has my need for everything else He has supplied for the thirty-six years I've been a Christian. But it seems harder for me to initially put the little things in His hands. I start out responding first and only after I have reached the point of frustration, do I realize I should have been trusting Him all along.

In this life, Christians live like mummies wrapped in graveclothes. The redemption through the blood of the Lamb has caused us to be birthed as "new creatures". Our old heart is gone and "all things are become new"(2 Corinthians 5:17). But we are contained in the flesh that still has the "law of sin" in its members, as the Apostle Paul described when he said, "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." (Romans 7:19) Paul sums it up by telling us "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."(Romans 7:25)

This is where the "renewing of your mind" comes in that the New Testament speaks of so often. I think of my issue with the gnats and the toilet paper and I know that the Lord desires to work in and through me in this situation. He has something He wishes to teach me and maybe He has something He wants to do for someone else, too. I offer the situation up to Him for His purpose. Maybe He wants me to learn to be content with the gnats. Maybe He is using this situation to work patience in and through me. But it is His situation primarily. If my focus is on Him, then the problem becomes so much smaller.

By focusing on the truth of the Scriptures, my mind is renewed to see the situation as His situation first, not mine. Then the next time I see a gnat, my first response can be to thank Him for the gnat -- after all, He created that gnat. And then to ask Him for His purpose for that gnat is in my life to be fulfilled. "Not my will..."