I finally got around to fixing my night stand clock and I think I’ve finally got it right. 

It’s not that the clock wasn’t working and I used my electronic skills to get it to keep time again. The problem was not keeping time, but that sometimes I couldn’t read the time it was displaying. 

Let me explain.

When do you usually need to look at the clock on your night stand? – at night time or early in the morning when it’s dark in the room and you can’t see very much. 

Years ago I was visiting a friend and, in the room I stayed in, they had a clock that projected the time onto the ceiling. I thought it was such a great idea that I looked to buy one. 

Just think about it. When you are lying bed and want to know the time, where is the best place to look? That’s right – just look up at the ceiling. You are probably already facing that way. And when the room is dark, the red numbers stand out clearly overhead.

Now the clock I got has a defect. I’m not sure if it was a design flaw or a problem with my particular clock. When the time is projected on the ceiling, the numbers are like four feet high …literally. The time displays across the entire ceiling. 

It’s just a little too much … well, a lot too much.

So I searched for a solution and I found an old magnifying glass that was the perfect size. The magnifying glass needed to be about two inches above the clock so that it could project an image on the underside of a shelf that hangs above my night stand. 

I needed some way to raise the magnifying glass up those two inches. I won’t bother telling you how I did it but I’ll tell you the things I used: a lid from an old camera film canister, a business card and some tape. 

All this did the trick. It was like I was MacGyver! 

But having it just sit on the clock wasn’t good enough. It kept falling off the clock or getting bumped. 

I got tired of repositioning it so the other day I came up with a way to keep my little telescope device in place. For that I used the insert of a pill bottle cap, and some two-sided tape. 

Time will tell (pun intended) if what I rigged lasts long-term, but I’m happy. 

Now I don’t have to have the glow from a clock giving me a sun tan or skin cancer while I sleep but, at any moment, morning or night, I can look under that shelf and read the time. 

Here’s the thing: How far will you go for God? Will you do things for Him only if they are easy, if they fit in with what you are already doing? If God asks you to do something that might be difficult or take some effort, even mental effort, is that too much to ask? I went to a lot of work just to get the time to project at a reasonable size on my shelf. Will you go the second mile when God asks you to do something for Him? Think about it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you said “no” to, just because it would take some extra work on your part? Leave your comments and questions below.

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