Praying Over My Stapler

Tired.  Exhausted.  Overwhelmed.  Overworked.  Anxious.  Irritable.  Annoyed.  Overly sensitive.  Stressed.  Frantic.  Even a bit feverish and nauseous.

These are all things that describe me today.  Not loving those descriptions, but I think they are accurate.  So, at least, I can say that I am being honest about where I am in this particular moment.

I am feeling like even the smallest thing could put me over the edge right now.

With that being said, I just found myself in a battle with my long-arm stapler as I tried to put some books together.  This is not the first time I have done battle with this device.  I staple one time, and then I have to spend at least a minute and a fair amount of strength wrestling it back to where it can function to get one more staple out of it.  Repeat this about thirty-five times, and you can probably see my frustration.  I do not have the time, energy, or patience to deal with this today.  The stapler is winning.  

Just seconds before I went into a sobbing mess that would potentially lead me to a nervous breakdown, I actually had the wisdom to stop.  I took a deep breath.  And another one.  And one more for good measure.  Then I prayed over my stapler.  Yes, you read that right.  I prayed over my stapler.  "Please, God, would you fix my stapler?  I know this seems silly, but I just can't deal with this right this minute.  I know you have the power.  Would you please, please just fix this stupid thing for me?"

Does my God care about my stapler?  I think He does.  The stapler crisis was important to me, and He cares about me.  So, the stapler is important to Him too, because He loves me.  Why should I bother my great big God with something so small as a stapler?  After all, doesn't He have bigger problems to be taking care of than that?  Shouldn't I just deal with it?

The point is this: I wasn't dealing with it.  I was in a tailspin, a whirlwind of negative emotions.  Everything was crashing in on me.  I was in a place of desperation.  (Yes, I do recognize that a stapler should not be the source of so much desperation.)

God cares about me.  He doesn't want me to be desperate and in a tizzy over the things in my life that seek to control me.  He is the Prince of Peace, peace which I so needed.

God could have chosen to fix my stapler.  He didn't.  After I prayed over my stapler, it didn't work any better than before.  Disappointing, huh?  Not really.  Because He chose to change me.  That was the answer to my prayer today.  As I continued to wrestle with my stapler, He changed my heart.  I recited the 23rd Psalm.  Then there were praise songs in my head that just had to be sung out loud.  

I finished stapling those books and went to do something else.  I almost giggled when my other stapler didn't work any better than the first one.

"Cast all your anxieties (even pesky staplers) on Him because He cares for you." 

1 Peter 5:7