Pray or Panic!!!

Sometimes you are just having “one of those days” a day when everything you plan just isn’t happening. You plan to go to the bank first thing in the morning only to discover that it’s one of those holidays you forgot because you have to work. You plan to finish that report and discover that an important piece is in your desk at home. Normally you would laugh when you discover that the blue shoes that perfectly match your suit are really the dark brown ones that don’t match anything.

But today isn’t a day you feel like laughing about anything. Every little annoyance is greatly magnified. You feel as if you should just go back to bed and start over but that isn‘t always an option in the real world.

This sounds like a set up for having a bad day. Oh, but we have choices.

We can decide to let this day just spiral down to a very dark place or we can decide to put a stop to this nonsense right away!

Matthew 6 (New International Version)
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Wow! Just stopping for a moment to review this morning in a different light can put this whole day into a new perspective. What among these little annoyances is worth ruining a whole day? What is there here that can’t be fixed or just ignored at this point?

Will I let every contact that I have for the rest of the day be soured by these little blips?

Psalm 118:24 (New International Version)
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

This is a brand new day. This is a day when I can notice that there is a beautiful blue sky outside and it’s cooled off enough that I can enjoy sitting outside on my break. Oh, and there is a bird family that decided to make a home just outside my window and I can hear their joyful song. And on it goes. It is amazing how many reasons we have for joy when we refuse to give our day over to despair, anger or hurt feelings. How trivial the things that were about to ruin my whole day seem in contrast to the joy of the Lord!

Lamentations 3:22-26 (New International Version)
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

We are given a “memory scripture” every week at church. These are the little nuggets that we can call on when life is tough and we need the comfort of the Word. It’s amazing how well it works.

Just remembering that there is comfort and protection for my spirit in the Word gives pause to every destructive thought. It doesn’t take a long time to choose to pray rather than panic but it can have long lasting rewards.

May God Forever Be a Blessing in Your Life!!!