THE RATIO

One of my most challenging prayers is, “Lord, get me outside of myself today and help me set my affections on things above.

With work, personal situations and family….there are days that are just plain hard, and it’s easy to focus only on what I can see presently. So some days I gotta just stop and say, “Wait a minute…I’m gonna smile, I’m alive, I can help someone today and God’s got things for me to do.”

People go through the death of a spouse, a family member, a dear friend , job loss and other bad stuff. It takes a season to grieve, which is needed…healthy for sure. Each of us deal with hardship differently. Moving on, moving thru, moving past or letting go involves making a decision…and for me..that’s not easy.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores the my soul.”

I am realizing just now that God isn’t just the Shepherd…but He is is “the green pastures”…He is the “still waters.”He is in every part of everything I encounter, including hard days and grief.

But there are days I don’t, or won’t mentally embrace what God can do. It’s complicated….I’m complicated. I get overwhelmed. Some people don’t get overwhelmed very much…if ever. I’m not one of them.

You’re just not believing God, Greg. You’re not trusting Him. Well, that is true. I have that tendency. There’s a lyric in the hymn, “Come Thou Fount” that describes this well. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.”

I’m certainly not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do think about things a lot…maybe too much….probably more than I pray. I’m guessing I need to get the thinking to praying ratio down a little better.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)