Gosh, I haven't blogged in quite a long time. So don't expect anything great. It's more like a little observation from a non-observant type person. :)
I'm watching a DVR'd version of a show I missed seeing and I can't help but notice the "Winter Weather Warnings and Advisorys" that keep scrolling across my show and are posted continuously in the upper right hand corner. These warnings are out of date. The show was from last Friday. It keeps distracting me from my show. I don't know how to make it go away. It's 65 degrees -- the winter warnings have expired!!
As I watched, it dawned on me...this is our life sometimes...
We hear bad news of sorts and we start bombarding our thought life with WARNINGS and ADVISORIES. We get distracted by something that "might happen" and we can't focus on the real issue (i.e. the storyline of my show) because we get focused what might be headed our way. We let it get glued into the corner of our mind or we let it keep scrolling across our thoughts. We worry. We panic. We run to the store and wipe out the shelves of milk and bread. We over-react. Why? Because of something that MIGHT happen. We don't focus on the here and now - the life that IS actually happening in the present moments; instead we get consumed by what MIGHT happen.
I am now looking at that warning through the eyes of "well, they sure missed the forecast for us!" So seeing that warning does nothing to me. No excitement about the snow. I don't shift into happy, snow dance routine. Nothing. The words "winter advisory/warning" stirs absolutely nothing in me at this time. Why -- because I know the outcome of those warnings. Nothing happened.
So I thought about how that is a picture of us sometimes...We think about this thing that might happen. It either dominates our behavior and thought life or is it always there in the corner of our thoughts. We can't quit thinking on it.
What came of all those warnings? For us, here in Morgan County? Nothing happened! We received a grand total of 12 snow flakes! We didn't even get what is considered to be a "dusting" in my neck of the woods. Snow happened all around us, ice happened in some places but here -- we got nothing. We received a day off and a day to sleep in but in actuality that thing that people were anxious about never happened. It was not a major event. It wasn't even a minor event.
Isn't that true about some of those worries we carry around?? We prepare for the worst. We respond as if this thing WILL occur. We may spend a lot of worry and time thinking about something that just never happens.
Guess what? God knew!! When those constant reminders scrolled across the screen the night of the possible severe weather. WARNING, WARNING, WARNING the TV silently screamed out -- but God knew. He saw the future. He has the storehouse of snow. He was there.
So tonight as I watch a DVR version of a show and see warnings, I am not alarmed. I am not concerned in the least. It's a little distracting, but it's not consuming me. It's not effecting me. It's just there and it means nothing to me now.
So the next time those "alarms go off in my mind about something that may or may not happen," I'm going to reassure myself that God is there. He knows the future. He is in control of the present. I'm hope I'll think differently about this mind-consuming issue. It is not something to waste time worrying about. God knows! and that should be good enough for me.
Yet even as I typed that last line I realized (lightbulb moment!) that I did this worrying about what might happen thing TODAY. I let something that I wasn't looking forward to, even dreading almost, effect my day, my thoughts, my patience, my actions, my joy -- my day was worse because I let this upcoming event concern me. I need to apply my lesson I learned tonight to my life. Maybe tomorrow I will remember this lesson. (by the way the dreaded thing was not too bad; it was actually okay!) :) :)
:) hmmmmm. What do you think? Lay those worries about what may or may not happen down!!! If it does happen -- God won't be surprised. If it doesn't happen you'll be thankful that you didn't waste time and energy worrying.
just a thought :)
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