I found a couple of little dittys (ditty: what I call a short thought-provoking group of words), on the internet the other day and they made a whole bunch of sense. Since so many things today make so little sense, I thought you'd like to see what I read, too. "When you think too much about things, you tend to make a problem of something that was never a problem to begin with."
I'm guilty. I do this. I have a ton of thoughts that run through my brain in any given hour. Sometimes I find myself dwelling on something I can do absolutely nothing about. Or I think about something I failed to do, or messed up and cannot go back and change. You know...Jesus said not to "worry about tomorrow, for sufficient to the day is the evil thereof". Another little ditty that I found was, "Focusing on the past brings depression. Focusing on tomorrow brings anxiety. Focusing on the present brings peace." For the most part, this is true. Although, I do have some things in my past that bring joy, and comfort. I enjoy thinking about the way my son use to sneak up behind me and give me a huge bearhug. I love to recall how funny he was when he called and told me every single detail of his day because it was so wonderful and at the end of an hour and a half, he'd say, "I wish you coulda been here, Momma. It was unbelievable!" I like focusing on those times. But, of course, that is not the point of that ditty. Focusing on the past and dwelling on mistakes and failures and what could have been, can lead us to feel sorry for ourselves, to wallow in pity, and paralyze any forward motion. Hence, the depression.
The other extreme is dwelling upon and fretting about the future. I have a friend who thinks about every single thing she says and does then analyzes what she could have said, should have said and would have said. Whenever anyone deviates in the least bit from what she's come to know as norm for them, she sets in motion a quandry of questions. Then she conjures up problems that aren't even there. She does the same thing with the future. She plays "what-if" with a situation so much that when a situation doesn't turn out like she thought it should have, she is confused and anxious, and nerve-wracked. I'm forever telling her to forget about it, just relax and enjoy the moment. Which brings me to the last part of that second ditty. When we focus upon the present, we have peace. We have peace because we are actually able to do something about what we are experiencing. Though a problem may exist in our lives, we can still actively participate in solving it. This brings about peace. It's kinda like the Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the wisdom to know the difference." When we live our lives this way and rest in the power and grace of God, we are able to meet the days ahead without the stress the world wants to press upon us. I pray this week you see the goodness of each moment and find something positive for every hour of the day. That's what I'm planning to look for and focus on. And I'm starting now. How about you?
Comments