At Rest...

At rest and pressing forward…

The Lord has continued to bring a deep rest to this heart of mine. The more I press into who He is and what He is doing in my life today, the less I need answers for yesterday. It is a wild concept to be at rest, though life is not slowing down or affording me to take my eyes off of the goals ahead. I am finding rest in what I will call simple trust. This simple trust is actually profound. It stems from the realization that I can only control who I am and I must allow the people around me room to breathe and learn. I will simply trust that the Lord will continue to guide my steps and faithfully protect me from the assault of the enemy when it comes. It is a natural response to be worried about explosions when you have walked through them. However, if one is not careful, the explosion of the past will dictate and control the future. This must not be, as there is too much life to live and too large a purpose to live for. Instead, it is better to simply trust that because of where I have walked, I am now wiser and though explosions may still be a part of this life, it won’t be caused because my eyes are shut to the dangers or the path that led to those atrocities.

Though I still look around and at times don’t understand…
And though some mornings the questions that loom are unanswerable…
And though at times all is too quiet and faint memories of war can be heard…
Instead of allowing these conundrums to control me…
I simply smile, trusting in this simple phrase…

My God is good.

And I am at rest once more…

Psalm 116:12
What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?

Decision by Decision

As I walked out of my room this morning I was greeted by a man child with a deeper voice than mine, who had shaving cream on his face, preparing to meet his high school world. I had to stop and take a double take. My brain was incapable of computing how it is that my son had grown up so fast before my eyes. He is an amazing young man, but he is as tall as I am, driving, and dreaming of a future of college, career, marriage, and one day children of his own. All of these dreams of his do not include me in his life on a daily basis. When did this happen?

I believe this happened day by day and decision by decision. Just yesterday, I was approached with a dilemma of being at my youngest son’s basketball game or in a meeting that was important and was part of my responsibilities. I am happy to say that the wise decision was made and I will be at my son’s basketball game. As I evaluate my life and look at the places where I cannot be replaced, there are very few. No one can have the relationship with my God for me, be a husband to my wife for me, the father to my children for me, or build the relationship with my friends and family for me. If I am not careful, decisions will be made to be at those meetings, run those events, and give away those precious moments that can never be recaptured.

At this point in my life it is with clarity that I can see how quickly a couple of years will go by and my children will have grown and be off and running on their own journey. I pray with all of my heart that the Lord will give me the wisdom to say yes to the right things, as it pertains to the precious time given to me. I hope to walk forward with my eyes wide open and capture every moment given to me with those people in my life that I cherish.

This is a good scripture reminding us to keep our focus on what is right and allowing the Lord to take care of the other needs in our life.

Matthew 6:19-33

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.