Worry

 

It was a week – a week filled with many emotions.  At times, there was celebration and joy.  Other times there was heartache and sadness.  Times of laughter and times of crying.  Our lives bring many ups and downs.  Yet, when they happen within hours of each other, it can take a toll on our emotions.  That was my week.   I woke up Saturday morning exhausted, trying to rationalize the efforts of the week and determining what I could have done differently, what I could have done better.  I reviewed the events many times.  Although I was exhausted, there was a common thread – worry.

Progressing through the week, I realized that upon each event, the happy ones along with the ones filled with sadness, there was worry.  Worrying can be consuming.  Worry can be exhausting.  As I walked into each day, I realized that there was an element of worry for each situation – providing the emotional exhaustion I was feeling.  This worrying feeling is actually something with which I am familiar.  For all of the strides I try to make to live my life as God wants me to, I fail in this area.  I may give my worry to God, only to ‘take it back’ when what I gave to him is not fulfilled the way “I” want it to be fulfilled or in the timeline “I” had.

This week, I tried something different.  I entered each day with specific prayers for the day.  Knowing what the day entailed, I prayed for specifics.  Once I reflected back, I realized that God had actually answered my prayers – each and every day!!  I decided to take a step out of the worry and into God’s grace at the beginning of each day.  He heard my prayers and provided for me.  Yet, I fell back upon the stressors I have always felt – the worry I always had in these situations.  How foolish of me!  God provided for me, just as I asked, and I slipped back into a feeling of worry that there was no need for!

Has this happened to you?  You pray for God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s help, and He delivers!  Yet, you continue to live your life as you did prior to his answered prayers out of habit.  God gives us the strength to live past bad habits.  He delivers us from the “old ways and provides a new beginning” for each of us, free from our hold habits.  It is in our free will that we need to move past those habits, even when it comes to worry.

I learned something this week – that the blessings of answered prayers give us the opportunity to be freed from the chains of old habits and to live in God’s light.  Yes, it was an exhausting week, but God delivered me and others.  I need to spend less time worrying about when and how God will show up and realize He is there for each and every minute.  My trust has to be that His blessings will outshine my worry, for His goodness and His grace.  Let us work on seeing God’s hand in all that encompasses our lives, realizing that the old habits we have can be thrown out and His new mercies will shine!

Heavenly Father, thank you for answering prayers.  Please open my eyes and my heart to see the answers you provide.  Help me to rid the worry of my life and lift the bad habits associated with worry.  Let me see Your light shining through challenging times, and may my voice be raised in praise.

Prepare

 

It is winter in New England.   Snow is coming.  We have not had a true ‘plowable’ snowstorm yet this season.  That is how we define if the snow is going to be ‘worthy’ of our time or not.  If it is plowable, we know that it is something to keep our eye on and start planning.  It does not stop us from moving in these parts!  We just plan for it.  Grocery stores are busier than usual.  People ensure they have enough groceries, more importantly the correct groceries.  I saw a lot of hot chocolate in the carts of families that were shopping! 

Preparing for winter snow takes on many different scenarios.  The plow trucks ensure there is salt and sand to spray on the roads after they plow.  Some roads actually receive pre-treatment, which helps to melt the snow as it arrives.  Folks make sure they have snow scrappers in their cars and in their containers to be utilized for home snow blowers or generators in case power goes out.  Although this is not a huge storm, preparation is the key!  Once all is done, the waiting begins.  When those first flakes fall, it is a beautiful site.

All this preparation made me think about our verse for today.  Prepared!  Are we prepared for our Jesus’ return?  Unlike the weather maps, the news reports and the apps on our phones that let us know when the snow is coming and how much we will get, we do not know when Jesus will be returning.  Our preparation for Jesus’ coming needs to be completely different than the snowstorm preparation.  We are unaware of Jesus’ timing; thus, we need to be ready at a moment’s notice.  The question stands, are we ready to meet Jesus and how can we be prepared?  I thought about this for some time and found the best answer for this in Luke 12: 35-38. Jesus shares this story of preparation, how a servant is always prepared for their owner to return. 

³⁵ “Be ready and dressed. Have your lights burning. ³⁶ Be like men who are waiting for their owner to come home from a wedding supper. When he comes and knocks on the door, they will open it for him at once. ³⁷ Those servants are happy when their owner finds them watching when he comes. For sure, I tell you, he will be dressed and ready to care for them. He will have them seated at the table. ³⁸ The owner might come late at night or early in the morning. Those servants are happy if their owner finds them watching whenever he comes.

This is such a beautiful illustration of how we need to be ready.  Have our lights been burning – are we exuding the love of Jesus to others so “they know we are Christians by our love”?  Are we opening our doors to those who are knocking?  Are we ready to care for others?  Are we HAPPY to do these things?  We prepare for many events in our lives on earth, from daily events like school and work to larger events like vacations and weddings.  Are we prepared for the biggest event of our lives, meeting our Savior?  I am going to do my best to ask this question every morning and try to live my life the day ahead as if He was coming.  What a glorious day that will be! 

Dearest Jesus, help me to be reminded every day to live my life as if you were returning soon.  May my actions, my words and my thoughts align with your expectations.  Help me to be prepared to see Your face!  Amen.

 

Overstepped

 

Anyone who knows me will share with you – I am a planner!  I plan almost everything in my life.  My days are filled with planning what duties, chores, errands and even rest time I will have.  Dinner meals are always planned for the week – or every two weeks.  Vacations, once again, have me planning much the same.  What time will we wake up, when we need to go for breakfast, what attractions we will see, where we will be having dinner, are all decided upon – typically before we even get on a plane or in a car!   To be honest, I truly cannot remember the last time I woke up and did not have anything planned for the day.  I think it would truly “stress me out” more than being ‘enjoyable.’  I have spoken with many of you that do much the same.  Planning is a natural part of your days, ensuring that there is a map for the day and goals to attain.

Living a life like this is extremely efficient.  I get many things done and much is accomplished.  Yet may I share a secret with all of you?  It may be efficient, but it is exhausting.  It is the thing that keeps me up at night (among many other things).   There is always a to-do list that is never finished.  It is what I worry about (what if ____________ does not get done).  It is efficient yet filled with constant pressure.  I establish the plan.  I execute the plan.  I beat myself up if the plan is not executed correctly! My agenda!

This verse has provided the course direction I have needed in the past, and the course direction I need today! God wants us to use our gifts and talents that He provides to us on this earth.  That means planning.  Yet, when the plan we make overtakes the steps He wants us to make to get there, we have overstepped.  When our plan outweighs God’s plan, we have overstepped.   When the plan we set makes us so exhausted we are not operating with God’s will and being the person God wants us to be, we have overstepped.  God’s plan will always be the plan of choice, but when we work towards our plan so strongly, and we are not stopping to see if we are meeting God’s plan, we have overstepped.  Dear friends, God’s plan is perfect – absolutely perfect.  When we reflect on the plan that He has for our lives, we will see that His steps are perfectly drawn to the plan He has created for us.  In striving to ensure we complete everything, let us not let us distract our eyes from the steps He has asked us to take.  May our steps not be diverted by our agenda, but may our steps always follow the ones He has given to us.  How do we do this?  Instead of using time at the end of each day to review my check marks next to my to-do list that day and start planning the next, I will be using this time to see if what I accomplished aligned with God’s plan and am I walking in His steps.  Honestly, this will not be easy.  Yet course direction is necessary for me.  If it is for you, please join me!  Let us ensure we are walking in the steps God has asked us to – ensuring our personal plan is not overstepping God’s plan.

Dearest Lord, help me to not overstep!  May the plans I make for my days align with the goals you have for my life.  Help me to ‘check in’ to ensure my steps align with your steps in every way and that they are pleasing in your sight.  Amen!

People Pleaser?

 

Welcome to 2025!  Often when I enter a new year, I reflect on the past one, look for accomplishments and gaps, and see where I want to strive to close those gaps for the next year.  I used to be a strong New Year’s Resolutions person – only to be disappointed over and over again by my lack of attaining all the resolutions I set out to achieve.  Although many of the resolutions I would set would work on self-identified items, they were typically so I could be better for someone else.  How could I be better at work?  How could I be better as a wife/mother/daughter?  How could I look better?  See the picture?  My goals were an attempt to please someone around me, or even trying to please myself!  I used to set the goal, outline a plan for success, review it weekly, and look for attainment.  Small gains were seen as huge victories, only to be short-lived!  Please tell me you have been here as well!

My view changed a few years ago.  When I began the accomplishment/gap evaluation, I looked at my life here on earth, but I also turned my focus from being a ‘people pleaser’ to being a ‘God pleaser.’  To be honest with you, when I looked at it that way, the gaps became chasms.  Did I live the type of life He wanted for me?  Was I being the person He wanted me to be?  My self-evaluation continued to show me where I fell short on this earth.  I would leave this exercise feeling as if I would never get there.

Friends, my evaluation is correct.  We will never get to be the perfect earthly person.  Only one lived perfectly on earth, our dear Jesus.  No matter how hard we try, no matter how much effort we put against it, we will continue to fall short of the perfect Godly person.  We are a sinful bunch – natural sin takes over the day we are born.  The sinful nature continues each and every day we live here on earth.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to change it.  Yet, that does not give us the right to put our Christian values aside when we are with folks who are gossiping about others.  That does not give us the right to treat people deceitfully because someone asks us to.  That does not give us the right to give up who we are or who we aspire to be in God’s light because we want to please people here on earth.  Setting the goal of being a God pleaser versus a people pleaser will mean never reaching the goal!

Here is the best news of the day – God does not expect us to reach the goal here on earth!  God’s expectations of us is to focus and try.  He expects us to read His word, digest it and live it out in this earthly world.  He expects us to do our absolute best to obey His commandments and share His love with others.  Not achieving the end goal in this case is not a disappointment.  Each step we take in this goal brings us closer to Him!  Moving past being a people pleaser and becoming a God pleaser gets our focus away from ‘me’ and brings us closer to ‘Him.’  How do we know when we have achieved this new goal?  We will see it every day in the path we follow in His name.  We will look at life differently, we will start seeing the world through God’s eyes and appreciate ALL things, the little and large achievements.  We will see that we are wonderfully made by God and that He, even with all of our sin, is proud of us.  Proud enough to be called His children.  Let us work hard on being a God Pleaser this year.  We will stumble, but each step will be bringing us closer to our heavenly Father!

Dearest God, help us to focus our eyes upon You!  May we move away from trying to please people and move closer to trying to please you.  Help lay the path that I can follow and help me to open my eyes to see it.  Amen!