The Day I Battled a Fly...and Lost

I moved into my apartment in Kansas two weeks ago...and...for the most part...I loved it.

Except that, the second day I was here when we were moving my stuff in, a little fly found its way in. The first time I noticed it, I opened the door to let it out. However, it was not really interested in going back into the heat and so it stayed inside. I decided to ignore it for a while. I had forgotten it was there until I was going to bed that night and heard it buzzing around my head. I turned on the lamp by my bed to try to see it, but it was gone. So, I went back to sleep slightly annoyed. The next day I was decorating my apartment and the fly kept landing on me. At this point it was frustrating me. So every time I felt it I would reach down to try to get it but I kept missing. Later in the day Toby, my dog, finally noticed the fly and began to chase it around the apartment.

Now the fly was mocking us. It would get right by Toby and I's ear buzzing like crazy, would land on us, and then as soon as we would try to get it, it would fly away. Toby and I fought hard...but eventually the fly won.

I was frustrated by our inability to get rid of a tiny bug. But then I was also kind of shocked. I was shocked that I had let something so little and insignificant bother me so much. That little fly, by simply being present and being itself, made itself known and affected my day.

It made me think that if something so little, by simply making itself present, could so greatly affect the world of something much bigger than itself...that maybe i...so insignificant in the big picture...could somehow make a difference in the world around me just by being me and being present. Maybe it doesn't necessarily take huge actions or big plans. Maybe simply being present and living out who we are called to be is enough sometimes.

If we just show up in places where there is brokenness in the world, maybe our very presence and the light of God that shines through each of us would be enough to really bring some change. And if we all showed up, simply being who we are called to be, being ourselves, can you imagine?