I had planned to write this post last week on Monday evening after I had driven a total of four hours (two hours each way) and spent the day taking my mother to physical therapy, getting groceries for my parents, and vacuuming and mopping their floors.
When I got home and set down in front of the computer, I couldn’t pull up the screen to add a new post. It just remained blank when I clicked on it.
How appropriate that God had put in my mind to write about accepting life and that my first challenge to accept life as it comes would be that I could not create a post for last week. Okay… so… God does have a great big sense of humor, especially when He’s teaching us life lessons.
As I thought about all the things that trouble me in life, most of it involves relationships with others and me thinking I can help them physically, change their negative attitudes, or show them the error of their unBiblical ways.
How many times has that ever worked in your life???
In my life—the answer is…. drum roll……. NEVER!!!
People are just going to do what they are going to do. Reading God’s Word can change people, but I have found that most people, even Christians, spend very little time reading their Bible’s. I recently heard a preacher telling their church members that they should start reading five to ten minutes a day. Five or ten minutes is not going to get it. You have to dive deep. I heard someone say one time that the “Daily Bread” mini devotional books that some churches give out is more like a “daily crouton”. We need more than a crouton to change our lives. We need a whole loaf!
Putting on Blinders.
In all that driving and time to think about it, I decided that I was going to put blinders on and not look at anyone else. I was going to stay in my lane, and try to ignore others behavior that upsets and has such a profound affect on me, including an affect on my health.
I decided that I would not only put on the blinders, but at the end of the tunnel that those blinders would create, I would envision my Bible there and I would concentrate on that—God’s Word. I would concentrate on making sure I was living it out and not look at anyone else that wasn’t.
Did you know that what I thought about all day and figured out is actually Biblical? (Humm… did I actually figure it out? I believe it was more likely the subtle whispering of the Holy Spirit.)
Proverbs 4:25-27 says, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”
(ESV)
Doesn’t that sound just like a horse with blinders on?
Life is crazy and hard to accept. To get through this coming week, try putting your blinders on. Look straight ahead, but keep in mind where your next footstep will be planted. Make sure you stay straight on God’s path. And if evil rises up in front of you, “turn your foot away.”
Have a great week!