WoW - Petty Tyrant

My Darlings - 

Is "This American Life" still around?  Do you know who Ira Glass is?  The first time I listened to This American Life was 2011, coming home from a weekend trip at Whiskeytown in California (it's a real place!).  Ever since then, it became a regular part of my weekly routine to listen to the somewhat random, but inspiring, heartfelt, or just enlightening stories about mankind that Ira and his team brought forth.  One time when your dad and I were visiting your great-grandma in Chicago, we even took a little time to visit The Older Apple, the 24 hour diner near where Ira lived from which they did a whole episode on the different folks who patronized it.  

There is an episode of This American Life called "Petty Tyrant" about a man who worked in a local school system transportation department and would exploit workers and their vulnerabilities to get his way.  He was at the top of the food chain in this very small corner of the world.  Sounds a little pathetic, doesn't it?  There is wisdom to learn in this, besides the obvious of don't exploit others and be a lying jerk... it's the idea that, as Christians, we should work hard and have strong values of morality.  This sounds embarrassingly simply, but it's not easy to live out in the day to day.  There will always be shortcuts we can take to get our way - finding answers to a quiz on the internet, copying a friend's homework, taking credit where not merited.  But these are petty successes.  They are indications of foolishness, in fact: 

"Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh upright" (Prov. 15:21).

Also, we should take pride in our work, but there is meaning in it.  God made us with the capabilities we have, and it's a blessing and honoring to Him to use them for good means.  This doesn't have to be a 100% spiritual or religious use all the time, but rather performing our tasks well, honestly, and thoroughly, that others may see us, as Christ-followers, as hard working and earnest.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters... (Colossians 3:23)

May your decisions carry the weight they should - nothing more, nothing less.  Knowing that the sum of the parts will add up to a life lived in view of eternity, or for shortsighted petty victories.