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You can only control you.  Spending your lifetime being frustrated that others aren’t doing what you want or what you believe they should be doing is a waste of time.  Trying to discern and know the hearts of those around you can’t be wholly known.  By your fruits you will know them, but ultimately it can be a release to know it is not your ballgame to referee.

As much as you’d like to think you’re in control, I know you’ll admit that you are completely helpless and powerless at times.  I think when I’m most discouraged is when I feel helpless, as if there is nothing that I physically can do to change a situation.  Sometimes there is not a thing I can do.  There is Someone who can though.

Do we all have a misconception of perfection and when something doesn’t align, we’d rather just toss it than try to fix it?  We are a throw-away generation.  We have this luxury of doing that with almost anything and everything from plastic bottles   and beyond.

Because we are able to eat fast food, fast meals and have the world at our fingertips, are we growing less capable of possessing patience.  Instead of waiting and watching and cultivating a garden, we choke things out by “too much watering, too fast.”  Why not take the time to think of a project, a challenge or something you hope to achieve that you know will take longer than a month.

There is only so much of an energy reserve in your body and mind.  Some days it gets used up rather quickly.  Other days you are able to prolong it.  Some weeks drain you emotionally while others will fill your cup.  Sometimes the knowledge and continual presence of social media can really tend to exhaust your soul.  Limiting it can be a healthy thing to do at points.  I like to think about a time when the only people you would know lived on the surrounding farms, but your information was much more limited.  I actually think that was probably pretty healthy since you weren’t continually and unnecessarily concerned with the affairs of everyone outside your sphere.  We carry the weight of the world on us knowing the pains and problems of all those around us and beyond.  It can seem overwhelming at times I know.

Something positive to end this post is what I need.  It doesn’t matter how many facebook friends you have if you have five people you can count on in an emergency to be there for you.  It doesn’t matter how flawed and broken you are, the perfect Son has already done amazing things to make you whole.  If you try your whole life and achieve your own goals and no one notices, cares or compliments your bravery, talent or perseverance, God cares.  He’s cheering you on in the final stretches where you’re taking off in a sprint for what you have been working so hard.  He’s sitting next to you.  He’s listening to you when you feel desperately alone.  He’s listening to me when I’m wondering how I will take another step in the right direction.  Whether you’re in an elevator, a car driving home, a doctors office awaiting news or an open field with a world of stars above your head reminding you how small you really are, He is there.  In the words of the letter He left us, you can hear His voice.  And even when the world begins to be washed in grey from the monotony of life, He is there.  Always there.  In the confusion.  There.  In the questions.  There.  In the Answers.  There.  When the storm won’t seem to let up even for a minute.  There.

Take heart my brother.

~lme