| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “The end of anxiety and despair” Our Bible verse for today: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance …” Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 (NIV) Our thought for today: “Slow-down and relax” I love the tone and feel of the opening verses of Ecclesiastes chapter three. It’s so chill. There’s a time for this and a time for that, an appropriate time for every activity under heaven. No need to rush, no need to stress, just take things as they come, deal with them in their time and place, and move on. But most of us don’t live that way. Most of us are rushing headlong into the future, eager and anxious to get to the next thing so we can deal with it, and then move on to the next thing, and the next one after that, and the next one after that. But the truth is, you don’t have to run into the future as if you’re trying to catch it. The future doesn’t run away from us it runs towards us. It will be here before you know it, right on time, all by itself. It’s coming to you. Wait for it, it’s about to arrive. Jesus was never in a hurry. He was always busy but there are no accounts in the Gospels of Him rushing. He was relaxed and in control. He always took His time with what He was doing, accepting people and situations as they came to Him. He gave His full attention to the people and events of the moment, and then moved on to the next moment. Jesus was never in a hurry. With respect to learning to live a life with less anxiety and despair, this is pretty important. We often allow the press of life to get us stressed and anxious. We sometimes work ourselves into a state of anxiety as we anticipate what we think is waiting for us just around the corner in the future. We become so consumed with thoughts about what’s coming next that we aren’t fully focused on what is here now. The answer? Slow-down and relax. The future is going to get here when it gets here. The present is here now. So, live in the moment, take the seasons of life as they come, and remember that there’s an appropriate time for everything that God wants you to do. If it’s of God, there will be time for it. If it isn’t of God, then you shouldn’t be doing it anyway. We’ll think more about this tomorrow but for now, take a breath, slow-down, and relax. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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