At times, writing Sucks. Sometimes I simply don’t know what to write about. There is so much that happens in my day to day life, how do I filter through it all and decide what is worthy of putting down on paper, so to speak? With the last three months of the race upon me, how do I filter through all of the different things that are swimming around in my brain, all of which are vying for my attention, and decide what to focus on?
-New Teams for the last three months, new people to get to know all over again
-focusing on the Holy Spirit, wanting to see Him show up in power these next three months
-Where will I serve when I get home? Will I be skilled enough to serve in the immensely talented waters of our Worship team at Milestone?
-What’s next for me, career wise?
-What’s next for me, relationship wise? Is it time to start looking to start a family?
-How can I take my relationship with God to the next level, and stay fully invested in the last leg of this wonderful season He has me in?
So many questions, so many thoughts, so many options, one could easily be overwhelmed.
Spending so much time with all the children at Help Thailand has been a real eye opener for me. All of these kids were rescued from a potentially horrible situation, of which they remain gracefully oblivious, and put into a nurturing environment. Their lives are full, and busy and crazy, yet they don’t fret over much. They focus on the day to day schoolwork, chores , playing football or guitar and eating dinner. They leave all of the big picture stuff to the house parents, because in their eyes, they are the ones who rescued them, and now care for them, and they trust them with all of the big picture things.
I/We could take a lesson from these wonderful kids. You see, we also have someone who has saved us. He pulled us out of sin/bad situations/darkness and placed us into our new lives. If He was so loving and so gracious as to do that, then we should have every reason to trust Him with all of the “big picture” concerns in our lives, like all of the things I listed above. If we focus on our day to day and steward the things God has given us, we can trust that He will take care of the rest. He will guide us, instruct us and advise us in all these things.
In Matthew 6, Jesus advises us on some things that are pretty important to pray for, one of which is “Give us today our Daily bread.” I used to always think that phrase simply was a petition asking for physical sustenance, but its so much richer than that. Jesus is imploring us here to ask God for enough to get through today, and today only; Enough food and nourishment, but also enough STRENGTH and ENERGY and FAITH to get through the here and now. Interestingly enough, we are not instructed to ask for enough to get through today AND tomorrow. I believe that is because if we did that, we would lose focus on what God is doing in our lives RIGHT NOW, and we would begin to focus too much on tomorrow, and the next day, and what will I do if this happens, and if things go like this and everything turns out this way and then that happens then, oh no I forgot what if this happens!? You see what I mean? Does that Sound familiar? Jesus knew we as people have good intentions to plan ahead, but He also knew that we would be susceptible to worry and anxiety if we were always planning planning planning. Therefore He instructs us to ask God for OUR DAILY BREAD, just enough to get through today.
What’s so great about all of this is the assumption and implication on the part of Jesus that we would and should pray like this, EVERY DAY, and when we do, God will give us what we need to get through this wonderful, crazy, scary, beautiful life, day by day, week by week, and year by year. He will take care of the details, the future and all the plans, so we can focus on what He is doing where he has placed us.
