Divine Sandpaper

It’s going to be the little things. 

Very rarely does God deal with me the way I think He will. I understand that He uses our circumstances to shape us, so I often find myself anticipating some major catastrophe or life-upheaval to be used as His tool to shape me into the image of His Son. But I’ve come to realize, that most of the time, the tool He uses is the little things.

Every day my husband gets the eggs from our nest house. And every day he brings them in and puts them in one of these cartons with the pointy end up…and it drives me crazy because I’ve told him multiple times that eggs are supposed to go into the carton with the fat end up. But each day, here they are…. pointy end up. And that’s just one of the many dumb, random things I face each day that test my temper and my patience in ways that head-on conflict never could. 

Whether it’s a dog-chewed shoe, muddy footprints up my stairs, a rude person at the store, my lost car keys, or a house-full of unsharpened pencils with no erasers— I have found that a steady trickle of minor irritations accomplish a far deeper work in me than intermittent calamities. Somehow those little pieces of circumstantial “sand” are able to penetrate far deeper into my inner man than a boulder-sized crisis. And all those little irritations act like divine sandpaper, steadily smoothing away any thorny temper and sharp-edged ego. 

Oh Lord, thank You for all the little things You use to shape our character to look more like Yours. 

(Rom 8:29) For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

(Gal 5:22,23) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

(2 Per 1:4-7) …He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature…For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.