The Chirp
I try to be useful around the house. Sometimes I even succeed.
This weekend, I had replaced the batteries in our bedroom smoke detector. A small accomplishment, but I’ll take it.
A little before three in the morning, we got to evaluate my work.
Chirp.
Well, that’s aggravating.
I got the eight-foot ladder, climbed up, and waited. There it was again. Behind me.
I was working on the wrong smoke detector.
Then I saw it. Partially hidden behind the ceiling fan, more than twenty feet up in our cathedral ceiling.
I’d like a word with whoever put it there. Preferably at three in the morning.
I stood there looking at it, as though we might negotiate. But I had an eight-foot ladder and absolutely no interest in becoming a spoken or unspoken prayer request.
So I climbed down.
Every thirty seconds for the rest of the night, chirp. I had two options: move to another room or lie there getting increasingly angry at a battery.
I gave the second option considerable time.
Somewhere in all that, I thought about how pleased I’d been with myself. Bought the batteries. Did the work. Checked the box.
Never looked up far enough.
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.” Proverbs 21:2, NKJV.
I wonder what else I’ve overlooked while congratulating myself on having things handled.
I spent half the night wanting that thing to shut up. It had the nerve to keep reminding me there was still work to do.
My conscience can be aggravating like that, too.
I’ve asked God for peace plenty of times. I suspect a few of those prayers were really requests to be left alone.
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First Light
www.firstlightblog.org
A daily reflection on faith, leadership, and life. One honest thought each morning to help start grounded, focused, and full of grace before the world even wakes up.
By Nathan Clark