This has just been one of those days. Nothing earth shattering: just one interruption after another. Rush to a function at school, take the dog in for arthritis shots (maybe they could give me one too), return a billion phone calls while catching up on a million emails while trying to clean up the house and do laundry, race around for carpools and forgotten golf clubs and missing clothes, dealing with an out of town daughter at a mountain house with absolutely no water--calling, emailing, fretting to try to help her--and on and on. Frustration, helplessness, frenzy. It is now 9:15 p.m., and I feel like it's been one of those frantic days filled with minutia and absolutely nothing accomplished. Double sigh.
So I sit down for a few moments with my Bible study and read today's lesson. Such familiar beautiful words: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 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." (Phil. 4:4-7) His eternal words are a healing balm to a frazzled heart.
Rejoice in interruptions. Rejoice in minutiae. Rejoice in busyness. I just don't see an escape clause in there anywhere. "Always." In palaces. In prisons. In peaceful times. In frenzied times. In sorrowful moments. In soaring moments. In life--regular, humdrum, busy, calm, interruption-strewn life. REJOICE... always.
So I rejoice that we have clothes and golf clubs and schools and cars and food--all the routine possessions of life that many in this world lack. I rejoice that I have a daughter and that she can call me. That I have a phone and a computer--that I can sometimes operate. I rejoice that I have water (since my poor daughter apparently does not). I rejoice that there are people I love behind all the minutiae and busyness. I rejoice that the Lord has given me strength to do all He has called me to do. I rejoice that I live by faith and not by feelings. And I rejoice in Him who is holy and worthy and good and glorious and gracious beyond all hope and reason.
And I choose to forsake fretting and worrying for praying and thanksgiving. We can choose, you know. We aren't helpless beasts incapable of choosing that which brings hope and healing and blessing. Paul's words, after all, are a command not a suggestion... and if God commands, then He enables and equips us to do His perfect will. He is the King, after all, and we are His loyal subjects. Sometimes I forget that. I start to slip into thinking that this is all about me and mine rather than Him and His. But it's all about Him and about the privilege we have of knowing and praying and praising and enjoying the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
So thank You thank You thank You Lord! You are my strength and my song... even when life seems a bit off key. Thank You for interruptions and challenges and blessings and busyness. Thank You for the incalculable gift of prayer and knowing that Your supernatural power and provision are only a word, a breath, away. Thank You for thanksgiving and the way praise always changes us and takes us from fretting to peace and from discouragement to joy. Help us to obey, Lord. Help us to live by faith in You and Your Word rather than by our fragile and fleeting feelings.
And help my daughter to get water tonight... or at least to rejoice and be thankful even without showers or toilets or clean clothes! As for me, I think I'll go take a hot bath with unusually great thanksgiving! To God be the glory.
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