I found myself really being annoyed by a trivial thing yesterday. Trivial. Nonetheless, ruminating annoyance ate up about an hour of my life. Last evening, I was reading something by a Benedictine writer... I was struck by a simple bit of advice made by the writer. The advice was aimed at those who live in a monastery. If you are living with other monks in a monastery "don't let the trivial get to you."
That seems like an obvious statement. But, as I watch myself, I see that much of the annoyances and frustrations in my life stem from triviality... particularly as my ego gets involved. If I am not careful, I'll get all caught up in entitlements, feel slighted, have my sense of pride wounded, etc.
Here is my addition to that wise statement... "If you let something trivial get to you, you become as trivial as the thing itself!"
Listen to this: Every year 10,000 girls as young as 7 years old are sold into the sex slave traffic in Nepal. These girls are often promised jobs, placements with loving families, or they are simply sold by their own families to sex traffickers. They are smuggled across the border into India and taken to brothels where they are raped, brutalized, and kept locked up, often in cages. THIS IS NOT TRIVIAL ... this is something to be outraged by. And if you want to help rescue a child... the cost of rescuing a child is about $23.00 Yes, $23 can rescue a girl from a life of unbearable trauma. By the way...here's the link for a rescue organization. I know one of the founders of the organization; just a local guy who wanted to do something with his life to make a difference.
www.tinyhandsinternational.org
Now, what was so frustrating to me yesterday? Being kept on hold and listening to the statement "please hold, your call is important to us" several dozen times. Get over yourself Steven... you can hang up and call again later if your time is so precious. Really... is it that bad that I need to get all annoyed and act all snooty and sarcastic when the call was finally answered? How about spending 10 minutes inside the life of one of those innocent girls in Nepal...
If you are a sensitive person, there is this danger always lurking... to let the trivial get to you. To feel hurt, ignored, neglected, slighted, by something trivial. We can use our sensitivity to love others, but we must be careful when that same sensitivity gets turned inward. It can eat us up! We can act like spoiled children...or...we can do so much good, we can be light to the world... we can take a few minutes and turn for good the entire life of another human being for $23.00...
True enough, true enough.
It is hard, sometimes, to let go of ourselves, especially if we've been through something traumatic in our lives. We go along, everything's lovely, until something happens to cause us to hold on tightly to ourselves, to want to protect the essential ME against...what? Against something that, on another day, or if it happened to someone else, we'd shake it off or not even notice. So it becomes important to let go of ourselves, just as the child has to let go of a parent's hand eventually and take those stumbling steps alone, so we all need to take those steps and realize that we are no more or less important than any other being.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful observation on a Monday morning! Thank you!
I just went to your website and offered a donation. Here I have the money to get poked with needles and megavitamins, and these children.... Thank you, Steve. For all of your insights.
ReplyDeleteThanks, anonymous for the kind words... I agree, we are all of such value to God and share in His love.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks Diane, for reading and making a donation... I had been procrastinating setting up a monthly donation online, and after reading that you made a donation, I got it set up. What a fantastic use of the gifts God has blessed us with! Imagine the flowing and multiplying of those gifts throughout the life of a rescued young girl!