With all the news and talk these days, you would think someone is totally bent on stealing our peace- peace of mind, peace of home and peace of society. While we cannot change all of society, if each one of us did our part to contribute to the general peace, I think we could see a lot of change in a short time. but it starts with one. It starts with you, and it starts with me.
So, how can I have peace of mind when everything around me is anything but peaceful? When I was little, we often had heavy rains that sometimes would come down for days, but even then there were intervals that got very intense, and we would say, “It’s raining cats and dogs!” (Quite a thought if transliterated for my Spanish speaking friends trying to learn English. )
I think a lot of people feel like it has been raining cats and dogs on them. It started with an epidemic with pandemic proportions that set the world up for pandemonium as fear was spewed from every source you turned to. Go home, lock your doors, stay inside and hope to survive. Kind of like going into bomb shelters during war, but the bomb was really a grenade, possibly in the hand of anyone and everyone you come in contact with, so distrust quickly followed. Then economic turmoil began, as business was closed down for a few weeks then more and more, to the point you start wondering if you are even going to have a job to go back to. And that’s still not all.
Do you feel like it’s been raining cats and dogs on you?
Suddenly, life at home got intense. If you live alone, loneliness began to suround you like a turtleneck that’s just a little to high and tight to be comfortable. Even great introverts find it a bit too suffocating when it is no longer a choice but an imposition. If you have kids, you have gotten to know them a lot more in the last two months, but you may feel you just cannot go on with this unplanned home schooling and having them at home all day every day. So, you say, whatever to get out just a little while, so there you go for groceries. But that just adds to the stress- waiting lines to go in, disinfect, wear mask, keep your distance, don’t find half of the stuff you went for because the shelves are bare, get home telling the little one that runs to meet you, “Wait, don’t come near, no hugs until l I finish the regimen”, disinfect everything, shower, new clothes and your bushed. Enough already!
When a problem or situation seems to loom over me, and I feel overwhelmed, I know it’s time to back away to put things back in perspective. If I am up against a wall, I will not see the open doorway just feet away. If I have a dog barking at my heels, I may just run without looking back to see that his owner is about to call him off. If I am so intimidated by a Goliath situation that tells me all day that I just cannot beat this, that I forget (not in brain knowledge but in my thinking) that my God is much bigger and has promised me the victory.
So, how about it? Take some time today to back away from it all and gain a new perspective. Put away your phone, get in a quiet place (it may be when everyone has gone to sleep), and call on God. But sometimes we really need to quiet our mind and soul first to be able to hear God speak to us.
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.
I invite you to read, meditate and personalize Psalm 42, at least verses 3-5: My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you aast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.
Begin to thank God for a past occasion when he saw you through something really difficult. Remember God’s promises and his eternal faithfulness to his word, make a note and say a promise aloud because sometimes our ears really need to hear it. And sing a praise song to the Rock of our salvation and the God that is our refuge in times of trouble.
Then, listen to what he has to say to you. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. (Ps. 46:10-11)
So good!
Awesome👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Amen