Proofreading with a point

Strange, isn't it: how proofreading can throw you together with thoughts and things you wouldn'tve had or seen otherwise?

All day long, I've been proofreading copies of Young Disciple magazine--and after a whole day of it, let me tell you, I get to the point of either blow-up or ready-to-crash. And yet, looking back, I have to ask myself: When do you get to think so much about so many things while doing your job?

For example, this quote: "Make it a rule, and pray God to help you keep it, never to lie down at night without being able to say, "I have made one human being a little wiser, or a little better, or at least a little happier this day." It makes you think... Have I really, for every day of my life, made one human being wiser, better, or just plain happier? Even a little? If not, what can I do to change that in the future?

Or the story about Erika, who was falsely accused by her friends and then rejected--shunned--by all those who had been the closest to her previously. To see her agonize and cry...pour her heart out to God...and to have everything be righted in His mercy in the end. Why won't my story right itself like that? God must be listening to the cries I've sent up, but why aren't things for me like they were for Erika? Is it partly my fault?

Or the comment in the Bible lesson, that talked about "making a world of an atom", and saying that when this happens, we end up hurting those we love and regretting it with every fiber of our being. Why does that have to be so close, so annoyingly parallel to my situation? Why didn't I get that message before? What can I do to right things? Is there any way to go back and redo? ...can I move on, forgive and be forgiven, and cease to make "worlds of atoms"?

Not even mentioning a thousand other thoughts besides, these things in and of themselves are enough to be food for some serious contemplation. Can you relate to any of that? I sure can--I somehow come upon things in proofreading that hit me so hard that I've been reduced to tears, sitting at my desk: Sobbing in silence because I can't take back what I've already done; I can't redo, can't undo. Life isn't a word processor... Control Z won't work. No such button. A lesson, for me, learned too late for many things... but just in time for others.

So, how about you? Have you been making others lives better, wiser, or happier? Have you been rejected and left alone by friends: falsely accused or hurt? Have you made worlds out of atoms: or had someone else do that to you? It's a pretty easy guess that someone, somewhere out there in the vast world, has experienced it...is experiencing it...and can identify exactly with me.

Funny though, that Jesus went through all that. He never made a world of an atom, but He had it done to Him. He never rejected, He was rejected. He never hurt, He was hurt. He made lives better, wiser, and happier every day of his life--more than just one for every day of his life too!--and yet, how many on Earth made His life better, or happier? It's something to think about... The God of the universes and the Almighty I AM lived through the miserable, painful, tearful existence that has been mine; and by extension, yours. That's incomprehensible...unfathomable... Or, in the well-known words of Zac; "Undeniably, unmistakably, absolutely, completely" amazing.... It's amazing. No questions asked. End of sentence.

So, it's the end of another day. One more day lived through... And still so much to do. There's still time left in the day... And I want to be able to do the greatest amount of good possible to those around me--whether near or far.

"Make it a rule, and pray God to help you keep it, never to lie down at night without being able to say, "I have made one human being a little wiser, or a little better, or at least a little happier this day."