GNATS
By Nathan Attwood
Pastor, Marianna First United Methodist Church
"Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt." Exodus 8:16.
I've lived many places, and of all the places I've lived, Jackson County is my favorite, but there's one thing about our community that is the worst of any place I've ever been. Gnats.
Gnats swarm my eyes and ears for months out of the year. I'm a pastor, so I often lead graveside funeral services, often in the heat of summer. If I forget to coat myself in repellent, the gnats crawl into my nose and ears and eyes the whole time I'm praying and trying to focus on comforting the family.
The people of Jackson County have learned many tricks to deal with gnats. Everyone has a favorite. Jackson County to receive gnat advice. Most convenience stores sell No Natz. It works pretty well but has to be applied constantly. Also it burns your eyes when it runs down your face when you sweat. Good, old fashioned OFF works pretty well but it stinks like chemicals and also burns the eyes. Avon Skin-So-Soft is amazing stuff. It's pricey and not available in stores, but it's worth it. I learned about it from some good folks who offered it when I was officiating their wedding in their backyard. Skin-So-Soft was not designed for gnats, of course, but it works. I've heard that Goop hand cleaner likewise keeps the gnats away even though it's not designed as a bug repellant.
Folks in Jackson County will tell you about lawn treatments for gnat control. We have tried every imaginable backyard machine promising to keep the gnats away. These seem to have limited effectiveness.
We love the outdoors around here, so gnats are our nemesis, the uninvited guest to our hiking, boating, yardwork, baseball games, and evenings on the deck.
Even people with a mere passing acquaintance with the Bible know where to find gnats in the Bible. Gnats are one of the ten plagues God put upon Egypt in order to compel Pharoah to let his people go. I wonder what the good people of Jackson County might have done to be likewise stricken?
Gnats are the third plague. They came after the Nile River turned to blood and the land became infested with frogs. After the gnats came the flies, then the death of livestock, then people were covered with boils on their skin, then locusts devoured the crops, then the land went dark, then finally, the firstborn of every Egyptian family died and Pharoah had enough and let the people go.
The plagues grow in intensity. When the river turns to blood, it affects the scenery, the fish die, and the nation's source is compromised, but life is not interrupted. The same is true of frogs--it was certainly weird and annoying to have the land covered with frogs, but they could be ignored.
An infestation of gnats and flies (plague 3 and 4) cannot be ignored. In one sense, they aren't as devastating as the destruction of the all the crops, and certainly not as catastrophic as the death of the firstborn. But the gnats are airborne, unable to be ignored, everywhere, in your eyes and ears, a constant annoyance.
Jesus mentions gnats one time. In Matthew 23:24 he criticizes religious people because they, "Strain out a gnat and swallow a camel." Religious people of the time were careful not to accidentally break God's law by ingesting a gnat. Jesus saw this as a trifle. He said that by missing the larger issues of loving God and neighbor while focusing on tiny, insignificant religious matters, they might as well swallow a giant unclean animal. His point was to keep the main thing the main thing.
Gnats are little things that figure out how to get big attention. They annoy us. They swarm us and bother us and get in our faces in ways that keep us from thinking about anything else. Annoyance gets our attention. Sadly, annoyance draws attention away from what matters.
Jackson County is full of gnats. Life is full of many little annoyances, not just gnats. Traffic, minor slights, getting stuck on hold with cable company, aches and pains, waiting rooms, news headlines, etc., etc. If we let our attention be distracted and if we allow ourselves to be easily aggravated, we can miss out on all the good God offers each day due to a swarm of little aggravations.
For the gnats, I recommend Skin-So-Soft. For all the other little aggravations, I recommend perspective and gratitude. Every temptation to annoyance is a tiny failure of gratitude for the good life we have received from a good God who gives us good gifts. The best way to keep from being distracted and annoyed by the little difficulties is to be aware and grateful for the bigger reality that God has filled our lives with good things.