Category: First Steps

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

Peace is a calm mind that is not perturbed by adversity, troubled by a remorseful conscience, or disturbed by fear. – Author Unknown

If a person does not keep pace with one’s companions, perhaps it is because one hears a different drummer.  Step to the music which one hears, however measured or far away. – Henry David Thoreau

How true are both of these quotes? I think they are linked. People suffer from the desire to keep pace with everyone else. It is the scorecard, and most believe they are failing. Unfortunately, it is a sliding scale that can never be conquered, because it is fueled by envy and a lack of inward peace.  

What is interesting to me is the work of the Holy Spirit that seeks to purify the inside of a person. Long before there is an outward change in a person, God’s Spirit changes the heart. Part of that transformative work is to form peace – inner peace. If the inside of a person is broken, then the outside will follow suit. However, if the inside is whole – at rest – then the actions will follow.  

Today, listen for a different voice of God. Step to that voice; follow that voice and allow it to create a heart of peace. Can you hear God beckoning you to come away with him? Seek him and you will find him.

 

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This Week’s Readings:

• Monday – John 1
• Tuesday – John 2
• Wednesday – John 3
• Thursday – John 4
• Friday – John 5

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

Recently, I read an article about how the names are listed on the 9/11 Memorial in New York.  Instead of listing the names by date-of-birth or in alphabetical order, they are listed by meaningful adjacencies.  Basically, the names are listed by their connection to each other.  For instance, firefighters are listed with other firefighters, first responders with other first responders, and people who worked together in an office are listed next to their co-workers.

Though a break from tradition, listing the names in a relational way is more therapeutic. I would argue that it gives a more accurate portrayal of the deceased. People define themselves through their connections. It could be family, friends, co-workers, or anything that is relational. People define themselves through their relational connections.

Naturally, as I read this article, I thought of baptism.  This sacrament reminds us of our connection to each other through the bonds of Christ.  We choose to love each other.  We intentionally connect to each other in faith.  This meaningful faith adjacency helps determine who we are and what we do.  

I hope today you will spend time reflecting on the connections you have in your life.  I hope you will give thanks for each one of them and how God has used them to help mold you into the person you are today.  

 

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This Week’s Readings:

• Monday – 1 Peter 4
• Tuesday – 1 Peter 5
• Wednesday – 2 Peter 1
• Thursday – 2 Peter 2
• Friday – 2 Peter 3

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of officiating my nephew’s wedding. His aunt and I were married when he was 3 years old.  I have had the pleasure of watching him grow into a fine, hardworking man. He married a beautiful young lady and I’m excited to see their life together grow. Nonetheless, the venue for the wedding ceremony was picturesque. Planned as an outdoor wedding in a giant pasture with manicured grass, white seats, and a perfectly decorated arbor. Everything was stunning. However, two minutes before the ceremony was to start, the bottom fell out. Not just a little spring shower but a deluge. Noah would have approved. Then the wind started blowing the rain sideways, and to top it off, hail the size of quarters started to fall.  It would have been comical had it not been the culmination of months of planning and every day before this day was perfection. Eventually, everyone moved to Plan B – a service under a pavilion.  On one level, under the pavilion seemed better because it was a smaller setting which created more intimacy in the service. As you can imagine, thirty minutes after the service the sun broke through the clouds and the reception was an unspoiled celebration of the couple’s love for each other.   

What was interesting to me was as soon as the ceremony was over, the weather wasn’t mentioned again.  No one cared because everyone was there to celebrate the couple. Granted it was tense and anxious before the ceremony, but afterward, it was a passing thought.  The couple was married and people were happy.  

Often, we are enslaved by things we can’t control.  Sure, we plan but life is not controllable. The promise of God is not that life will be controlled but that regardless of what comes, he will guide us through to the other side.  I like how Jesus closed his greatest sermon, The Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise person who built a house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish person who built a house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7:24-29).

Faith is not the ability to control the uncontrollable but the assurance that one will guide through any and all circumstances. You will face storms in life, many will come without warning. The remedy is found in trusting in the one who holds you in the palm of his hands.  

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

The other day while cleaning out some folders, I found this piece from Living on the Ragged Edge by Chuck Swindoll.

“Are you enjoying life now, or have you put all that on hold? For most people, life has become a grim marathon of misery, an endurance test full of frowns, whines, groans, and sighs. And perhaps that explains why so many who were once close to them have a tendency to drift away. Can you think of anyone who would rather spend a lot of time with those who have stopped enjoying life? They’d probably rather invest their hours in a pet, an animal that can’t even talk, than in someone who resembles a depressing, dark rain cloud.

In his work Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman confessed that was true of him:
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained.
I stand and look at them along and long.
They do not sweat or whine about their condition.
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

Maybe that explains the little bumper sticker, ‘Have you hugged your horse today?’ That used to make me smile; now I understand. Sometimes it’s easier to hug a horse than it is to stay close to another person. When you get next to a horse, it never says, ‘Man, have I had a rotten day!’ or ‘I’m depressed today.’ So, if we don’t want to drive others away with our groans and moans, we need to learn how to enjoy life.”

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

In my home, there is a silver tray that sits near the kitchen sink.  It is a beautiful serving tray that has the single purpose of being used as the collection place for junk.  On any given day, one could find letters, bills, cards, invitations, pens, paperclips, keys, and anything else that comes to mind.  It is the perfect place for those things no one wants to address.  One would think that when we have friends over for dinner, that it would be the perfect opportunity to clean the clutter off of the silver tray.  As we clean and straighten up the house for guests, it would make sense that the tray would be a part of that process.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  We simply pick the tray up and move it to the laundry room, because that is the perfect hiding place.  When friends leave, we bring it back out to collect more junk.

I wonder how often we give the appearance of our spiritual house being clean.  Instead of doing what needs to be done, we just move it to a place that we think no one will be able to see or discover.  We pose, posture, and hide.  “If I fake it long enough, maybe no one will know,” is our mantra.  Perhaps the Psalmist believed this only to discover there was nowhere he/she could go that God wasn’t (Psalm 139).  If God knows, then what is needed is not hiding or pretending but “a cleansing.”  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  

This week, tackle the silver tray in your life.  God is gracious and merciful.  Allow him to clean from the inside out.  

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6