"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone; the Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:4-7
Dear Friends in Christ -
On the one hand, I think this is one of the most beautiful invitation/promise packages in the Bible. On the other hand, I think that if God expects ME to do this, He expects too much. Rejoice, be gentle, don't worry, tell God your requests . . . wow. That's a lot.
As I was sharing with God my sense of being overwhelmed by all this, God responded, "Just do the first thing, and then get back to me."
OK . . . so that would be "Rejoice." That's the first step. Even in the midst of my everything and whatever. OK. Rejoice. So this is me, giving rejoicing a little try:
I'm rejoicing in the midst of the cold grey slush (which makes this really cool sqwuishing sound when cars drive through it on the street).
I'm rejoicing in the midst of lack-of-caffeine-no-coffee-in-the-house doldrums (thank God I have both the money and the time to pick up a pound of coffee on the way home from school pick-ups).
I'm rejoicing in the midst of the two-foot-deep clutter in several rooms of my house (I can deploy my energetic kids to help me pick it up!).
I'm rejoicing with my friend in the midst of her desperate illness (whenever I call to cheer her up, she ends up cheering me up because she refuses to listen to my whining and makes me tell about 'the good things').
Don't look now, but this may be working. Too well, in fact. Tomorrow I might have to work on the next step!
Faithfully muddling through Lent on this slushy day,
Janet+
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