Scripture
“My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it!”
~Luke 10:41-42, NLT
Quote
Three things take time, lots of time: it takes time to be holy, it takes time to mature and it takes time to listen.
~Ya’akov
The two greatest enemies of my quiet time are worry and hurry. Most of the time, these two run together. The mother of worry is distraction. Martha was distracted–Mary was focused. Swindoll says that God does not speak to the worried and hurried. He has a valid point but I would not go that far; I would say that God most often speaks when we slow down, focus and listen. I know one thing for certain, you cannot hurry your quiet time and if you do, you will destroy its quality. Once I get distracted, I apologize to the LORD, ask Him for wisdom and then I try to do the right thing whether it is make a visit or help someone in need. I always love quiet and unhurried time with Jesus. Worry can also be a problem. They say a coward dies a thousand deaths. When we worry, we replay the same thoughts and doubts over and over. When we rehearse our troubles, we are experiencing many times what we were intended to face only once. We are multiplying our troubles. As Mother use to remind me, “Son, you are making a mountains out of a mole hill.” Worry can make a small problem very, very large.
This is not the only bad thing about worry. Worry does not accomplish anything. Worry is futile like going in a circle. You are in constant motion but not making any progress. Worry does not help or change the situation. No one has ever accomplished a task by worrying. It is a total waste of time and energy. Since I am a chronic worrier, I am always looking for help. Years ago, I read about a man who had a “worry box.” Everytime he got worried about something, he wrote his worry on an index card and put it in the box. He would seal it with a prayer and then vow not to open the box for two weeks. You know what he discovered? Most, practically all the things he worried about never materialized. He thought to himself, “Man, I have been worrying for nothing.” I heard about the man who was a chronic worrier and his doctor told him, “You have to do something about this worrying.” So he went out an hired a professional worrier to worry for him. There was only one problem, the professional worrier charged $100 thousand per year. It worked: shortly after he hired the professional worrier, a friend asks him, “How are you going to come up with $100 thousand dollars a year.” He said, “I don’t know, that is not my worry.”
Extra
Heat wave coming; it is supposed to get to 34 today. With the sun out we will see some thawing which is fine with me. We went ahead and canceled our Mid-week service so that I can focus on Sunday. The thawing depends on the sun as much as anything. If we get a lot of sun today, we will see the roads melt. Our cold water froze with it dripping. Our main line is good but right under the kitchen sink we have a problem. We have the new flex pipe under the sing so I think we are good if it warms up a little. I hate heat waves and I don’t mind snow but this sub-twenty stuff is for the birds. My entire family has decided: we could not make it in Alaska. June told me last night that she could make it in Anchorage or one of the big cities. I said, “No you couldn’t; the twenty hours of darkness would drive you crazy.”
Have a warm day inside and thanks for reading the blog.