Rest, Don't Wrestle

I don’t know how your brain works, but sometimes I have a hard time shutting mine off. Sometimes my brain keeps me awake at night thinking of things that need to be done or problems that need to be addressed.

We live in an age where there is plenty to worry about. You pick up the paper, turn on the news, or surf the web and there is an abundance of things that are going cra-cra (that means crazy in case you don’t have kids…LOL). We do live in perilous times, but haven’t things always been a bit crazy?

I think the difference is that we live in an electronic age where we see everything going on in the world as it happens. You can’t walk down a street without cameras observing you from a dozen different angles. That should only worry you if you are a crook. The days of getting away with things is pretty much gone because of cell phones too. Now people are capturing acts of violence, theft, and general mayhem without anyone ever knowing it….until it shows up on YouTube.

You have probably heard the first part of the Serenity Prayer, but you may not have heard all of it, so here it is:

Serenity Prayer

- Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. 

Amen.

That is great advice for all of us. Quit worrying and learn to rest in His peace, despite what you see and how you feel. After all, the only real peace in this world is His peace. Seek that. Embrace that. Rest in that.

Shalom!

Dan Skognes

www.danskognes.com