Of Maps and Perspective

First, something fun. StatCounter, which I use to as a tool to monitor the number of hits on the blog, has added a new feature -- maps of the sources of hits to the blog. Here's a map showing the source locations of the last 100 hits on this blog. I don't know why I find this so interesting, but I do:

Next: Last New Year's Day, I did a short devotion in our Sunday school class while we enjoyed a great brunch. I told the class a story -- an annoyance that had happened to me the previous year at work. It's was one of those little, nasty encounters that don't matter much, but keep coming to mind. Once I finished story, I took my notes, and ran them through a shredder I had brought with me. That's what God can do with annoyances like that -- once we give them to Him. He can shred them into nothingness so that they no longer fester within us.

I did it as a fun illustration, but since then I've been amazed. I never think of that story again that it hasn't been transformed for me. It no longer bothers me; now it is an illustation of burden lifted.

So, another weight was dropped on my head today. One of those little, annoying pesky events that festers. A man at work (not my boss), who has known me for 17 years, made what I'm sure he thought was a joke, but (sorry, but I have no other word for it) pissed me off. It made me mad because it was a comment that questioned my integrity.

He's known me for 17 years - he should have known better. I've known him for 17 years, and I know that he (although he would never think this was true) enjoys making other people feel small -- less than he is. I know that, and I've learned over the years to deal with it, just like we all do with people in the world.

So what did I do? I gnawed on this ugly bone all the way home -- to the post office, to the gas station -- all the way to the house. I wasted my time arguing with him in my head, giving his comment much more value than it deserved.

How do we handle experiences like this? How do we engage God's shredder to forgive and move on?

Well, my gnawing got interrupted by a nice, long phone call with my mom (we celebrated good blood tests and laughed). From there I moved on to a couple of funny emails, and then to dinner with Steve. He told me a hilarious story about demons and traditions (if you know him, get him to tell you this one). In other words, I lived my life. My blessings took care of shredding the false hugeness that this stupid comment had assumed. Everything fell into perspective -- where it should be.

Images: Photo of StatCounter Google map (couldn't figure out how to save it, so I photographed it). Second one is a picture that came in my email today.