The “Gnats” in My Life:

The other day, one of those steamy sticky hot days, I was doing some work outside for a few minutes.  It didn’t take long, it seems, for the gnats to find me and to bug me.  They don’t really hurt, but they sure are annoying.  They are a real nuisance.

Being bothered by gnats took me back in my memory to my childhood.  On the farm, when it was hot, there were always gnats, swarms of them.  They liked to bother us while we were doing farm chores, or stacking hay or trying to cool down.  They were all over as far as we could tell.  And we would spend a considerable bit of energy fanning away, swinging away, vainly at the gnats.

When did they go away?  They went away when it got cooler.  They went away when we cooled down.

Life is full of gnats.  The things that don’t bite.  Things that don’t hurt.  The things that annoy.  They are the gnats of life.  And like with the insect, we can spend a considerable amount of energy fanning away, swinging away, vainly at the gnats of life.  Out of frustration, anger or intolerance, we might swing away wildly at the gnats of life.  All in vain.

When will the gnats of life go away?

Like the insect, they will go away when things cool down; when I cool down.

My life lesson today is this:  the “hotter” things are the more the gnats are attracted to me.  Cool down and the gnats seem to go away.  My flailing and swinging away that the annoying things of life is all in vain.  But I can cool down and watch the gnats diminish. 

Said another way, my finding the calm of peace (“the peace of God that passes all understanding) is the strongest weapon I have against the gnats of life, the weapons of the evil one and the pestering annoyances of life.

   Be blessed in God’s peace!