Revealing or an Unraveling 

I have two beautiful children who are currently quite overwhelmed with life. Sadly, they watched how I handled issues throughout my life. I wasn’t the best example. 

A few short years ago, I was describing my woes to a friend. He told me, “You’re not going to go hungry, nor will you lose the roof over your head.” And he was right. What I thought was the end of civilization was made up in my own mind.

We live in an imperfect and quite dysfunctional world. There are sometimes no easy fixes and often complexities build upon one another like mortaring a huge, brick retaining wall. 

But how much of this is caused because our minds run out of control along side our pals, Doom and Gloom? 

Every day contains something of value if we look for it. Is it revealing, as in nothing bad happened? Is it just a little speed bump in the road that is easily driven over? Or is it an answer to a problem, or a solution to fix a situation? Maybe it’s simply that today doesn’t feel as awful as yesterday…even with the same set of problems. 

On the other hand, is it an unraveling? Is the situation spiraling into something uncontrollable? If so, what made it spiral? What part of it can we control? What part of it can’t we? What percentage of the chaos is created because our mind is entertaining multiple scenarios all at once? 

Finding peace in a place where others influence us negatively is difficult. But while we are being tormented by their comments, actions, and pressures, they are happily moving forward in their own life. That doesn’t mean they are a happy, content person. It just means that they feel the need to have the upper hand. They need to have power and control over something or someone in their life. So sometimes, tag, you’re it. We’ve all been tagged at one time or another. 

But the point is we need to use our own power to corral our thoughts and stay focused only on the realness of each day.  I honestly cannot recall 95% of the details of situations that caused me to stressfully lose hours and days of my life. I gave my power away and lost precious time that I will never get back. 

I think that we often chew too much at one time instead of dealing with each issue when the time is right. Things that seem upside-down have a tendency to right themselves if we are patient. And there are always lessons to learn along the way even though we don’t always understand at the moment. 

My son went through some horrendous years. A hardship I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. He made it. Not unscathed, but he did attain wisdom. Not only that, but someone watched my son from the sidelines and learned from him. This someone is now going through a similar situation and is handling it with a better mindset because of my son. We don’t often see the light while in the midst of the storm. But the reasons why for sadness, pain, and hardship often reveal themselves later. 

Jesus gave us guidelines for living in the moment and not worrying about tomorrow or the what-ifs…of which, our mind can create a multitude of what-ifs. He knows we are not truly living if we constantly live in our own mindful chaos. Jesus doesn’t want that. It took six decades for me to finally see this clearly as I am now watching my children imitate me. And I can’t get a single moment back, nor can I give them time lost. 

Problems are always gonna exist. There’s just no escaping it. Reaching out to Jesus to help us with each individual day is the key. Laying our burdens at his feet is the only way to find peace in a world that doesn’t seem to want it.

♥️

Andi