Good Morning, one & all. Well, the clock says it’s morning…1:55 a.m. to be exact…but it is darkest night outside my window. Never have I ever been a morning person, especially when the morning in question looks suspiciously like the middle of night. I would call myself an aging night-owl these days, rarely able to stay up past 10:00 p.m.. Yesterday was Sunday, the Lord’s Day, & I woke up tired. I would have given nearly anything to have been able to stay in bed, but I AM glad I went to church. Did I rest when I got home, you ask? Nay, nay. I am no slacker. There were hours available for getting all the things done. So I did.
I was out before 10…& as yesterday slipped into today, I WOKE UP. More wide awake than I ever am when it is actually time to wake up. What the heck? This use to happen much more frequently (thank you menopause), but has improved drastically since I started drinking coffee right before bed. God’s honest truth & I have witnesses. So what went wrong this time? There is some weird phenomenon that happens when I am deep asleep…my brain starts releasing info-bombs like headlines hitting the news stand. If you don’t know about headlines & news stands you are too young to read my stuff. Godspeed.
The glaring headline-du-jour was a jarring message that I had made a mistake earlier in the afternoon. I had caught up on some side-hustle-work, & one of my tasks was filing a sales tax return. And my nocturnal brain was correct: I HAD made an error. Was said error egregious enough to halt all REM activity & insist I immediately course-correct? No. I could have righted the wrong during the actual day. But my brain thought otherwise & compelled me to arise. My brain is a hateful wench.
I filed an amended return. And here I sit. Awake & drinking water & talking to you. And wondering just how long this day is going to be. A scripture just now comes to mind:
Philippians 4:6-7….6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (New Living Translation)
That is good stuff right there. I have to wonder, though…could it be that I suffer from some measure of worry? I would not consider myself a worrier. After reading several translations of this scripture, I see the word “anxious” used in place of “worry”. Ahhhh…NOW we’re getting somewhere. I do feel many women, myself included, experience a low-grade-level of anxiety…caused by…oh, let’s see…raising the kids, running the businesses, keeping the home, paying the bills, cooking the food, loving the man…hormones….all the things that make up our lives. It appears that God does not wish us to live with such angst. So if I read this passage correctly, I am responsible for doing some stuff, & then God is responsible for doing some stuff:
Me: Don’t worry or be anxious about ANYTHING
Me: Pray about EVERYTHING
Me: Tell God what I need AND thank Him for all He has done
God: I have a special gift for you…it is called “shalom”…or to break it down into your vernacular…peace, harmony, tranquility, wholeness, completeness, health, & prosperity. Enjoy.
Man, you gotta love the Hebrew language. I am down for this shalom business. Tonight WILL be different. I am gonna do my part (as I drink my coffee) & trust that God will do His. Shalom, my friends…until next time…
A Story Told Here... 