Potentiometer
I married Mr. Microscope. He fixes things — medical things. And as his Mrs. Microscope, I try to help out by doing the paperwork that he is not fond of. So, I learned a little Quick Books from our accountant, and every weekend, I spend about an hour entering data. After a while, my fingers get into a rhythm: “Routine Service. Olympus CHT binocular microscope. Noted no significant findings. Image quality is good at this time.”
Tonight, however, God spoke to me clearly as I was typing out an invoice. This specific piece of equipment had some “issues” apparently. I read my husband’s work order description and typed the following: “Noted unit will not light up and light intensity potentiometer is broken….”
I stopped there. Oh my! I immediately pictured a heavenly meter that measured my potential. I wonder how God would rate my “light intensity” this past week. I certainly don’t ever want Him to say of me, “This one just won’t light up…”
Thankfully, I know just the place to go when I need a little routine maintenance. I head to the Holy Spirit shop and get back to the basics — Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, fellowship, and serving others. All these tools work together to get me back up and shining.
The Living Word is my “potentiometer” — I need to keep examining my light’s effectiveness by looking into the Bible daily and making adjustments as needed. Paul understood this concept and challenged the church at Philippi to keep shining brightly:
“Go out into the world uncorrupted,
a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society.
Provide people with a glimpse
of good living and of the living God.
Carry the light-giving Message into the night
so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you
on the day that Christ returns.”
Philippians 2:15, MSG
Light up the place, friends. Life lies ahead, and we are to point the way. Keep connected to your Power Source.
Q4U: How do you gauge the effectiveness of your witness? How do you stay “well lighted” in your spirit?
My one-word focus for the year is “fruitilicious.” Find out what that means here.
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Joining like-minded sisters today at Faith-Filled Friday, Thought-Provoking Thursday, Tell His Story, Playdates with God, Hear it on Sunday: Use it on Monday, and Soli Deo Gloria.
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So I looked up “potentiometer”…still have no idea what it is 🙂 But I understand being light in darkness…and I love the translation that we are a breath of fresh air. Good stuff!
Marty, I looked it up on Wikipedia and kind of gave myself a headache reading about it… Bruce has quite a few pieces of equipment stationed around the house in various states of repair, and I have no idea what most of them do…. sometimes, he tries to explain to me, but this Cuban girl “no comprende!” 🙂
Wow, Lyli. This speaks to some things I have been praying through this week. Am I truly sharing His light? Do I reflect His righteousness?
I pray that my effectiveness will be measured by producing the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. Abundant love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control. These are my “benchmarks” for my potentiometer….
Me, too! When we observed communion this weekend at the Saturday evening service, Pastor Bob talked about the fruits of the Spirit as we prepared to pray and partake… That passage in Galatians has been on my heart, and I couldn’t believe he chose to use it this weekend.
What a great word! I have a chance at shining effectively only by sitting first in God’s presence and in his Word. If I don’t I’m a pretty dim bulb:). We have all been given the same Spirit, and therefore we have unlimited potential to shine and serve powerfully. What I often need is the faith to do it. Love this post – thanks! Judy
You make a great point, Judy. God gives me the resources, but often it’s my unbelief that keeps me from accessing His power.
Wow … that illustration is simply striking!
Thanks, Linda. I thanked my husband for the inspiration… He was so excited to read this post… 🙂
Dear sweet Lily
Oh, I can just see you being a bit on the dim side as far as brightness is concerned. I find that as soon as I try to shine bright for our Lord, my light dims very quickly. I then need to go and plug-in again at the Source of all power and light, our dear Lord Jesus.
Much love
Mia
Mia, you are so right! When I try to be light in my own power, I just end up casting some ugly shadows.
this is amazing….and convicting. oh how your words grip my heart, dear one.
Thanks, Rachel… God really caught me off guard with this one…. He spoke to me so clearly though….
Lyli, because of your coinage of ‘fruitilicious’ I totally thought you’d made up ‘potentiometer’. It’s a great word and I love the connections you made with it. How do I keep my light shining? What you said 🙂 I like your lightbulbs, by the way.
Jody, it does sound like something I made up, doesn’t it? I had no idea what it was…
I really hate paperwork, so I happen to think you are a saint for doing it. And I love that you got that epiphany about the potentiometer and our potential while doing such a mundane thing. Great analogy.
My husband is kind of a lone ranger — so I was actually glad when he finally allowed me to do the invoicing for him (I had offered several times as he is swamped with work). I am pretty fast typist, so I usually don’t pay much attention to what I am writing — it’s all so technical and medical and foreign. But this one really grabbed my attention. Whoever named that thing “potentiometer” really had a knack for creative vocabulary….
I am sitting here thinking what wonderful partners you and your hubbie must be. Such a gift to compliment each other this way. And…I love this word: potentiometer! Wow. That’s a mouthful. But the way you apply it here is wonderful and your Q really has me thinking about how to gauge my witness. Good thoughts, as always, Lyli!
Thanks, Laura. My sweet husband really is a gift — I waited for him a llloonnnggg time. So, he was well prayed for during my single season…. daily, I see how God answered that prayer. His strengths are just the opposite of mine in every way…
Isn’t “potentiometer” a great word? The more I think about it, I guess the Holy Spirit is my personal spiritual potentiometer.
When I get out of God’s word I begin to falter. His word is my power source.
So true! 🙂