August 12, 2009
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Thought For The Week 16
Luk 1:79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luk 12:25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
Luk 12:26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
When you are stressed, for whatever reason, you are in darkness. Since stress can cause physical maladies, you are in the shadow of death. My stress is not what most people these days are stressing over. I’m not focused on the economy and financial issues. That is the least of my worries, and I’m not even employed right now.No, my stress comes much closer to home. My stress is over my son. My stress is in cramming to get the summer virtual school done on time. One of my friends told me last week, “One day, when he graduates, he will look out in the audience and say, ‘I couldn’t have made it without my mom.’ I want to live to see that day.” I looked at her and said, “So do I.”
I really hate being behind the ball when it comes to anything related to school or school work, even if it’s not mine. I have always been the type to work ahead if I know what the teacher is doing. Somehow, I have to impress this upon my son, because falling behind is terrible and so stressful. This wasn’t his fault entirely. Our internet connection issues played a large part, and we fell behind after starting early as a result of the connection issue; but he could have been a bit more motivated. Yet I keep seeing this sort of thing:
You are on the path of My choosing. There is no randomness about your life. Here and Now comprise the coordinates of your daily life. Most people let their moments slip through their fingers, half-lived. They avoid the present by worrying about the future or longing for a better time and place. They forget that they are creatures who are subject to the limitations of time and space. They forget their Creator, who walks with them only in the present.
As you give yourself more and more to a life of constant communion with Me, you will find that you simply have no time for worry. Thus, you are freed to let My Spirit direct your steps, enabling you to walk along the path of peace.
The thing is, I haven’t forgotten about being subject to time and space limitations. If anything, that is more real for me today than at any other time in my life. I’ve actually moved more in the last year or so, towards slowing down; towards refusing to rush, and refusing to allow outside, technology and societal influences about time issues affect me. This is why this situation is so bothersome.
I had managed to appreciate the fact that God moves outside of our time sphere, and I was attempting to focus on Him to the point of being unconscious about time issues. I was content to wait on Him.
Therefore, the fact that other people kept questioning me about being unemployed was not bothering me. It was the same when my last car died, and people became aware that I had no transportation. They would ask me, “Have you gotten a car yet?” as if there was a rush simply because having one is a major necessity for most people.
However, I was not worried about the stressed immediacy of needing a car. I am not worried about the stressed immediacy of getting a job. On both of those issues, I’m not worried because I know that God is my provider. He will open the right doors of opportunity for me to produce income when He’s ready, just like He did to get me the virtually new car I am now driving.
My son is another issue altogether. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that I don’t trust God with my son, but as his only parent (his father was never in the picture after the divorce and he has since passed), I have the sole responsibility to lead and direct him. When I see him getting off course, it concerns me, even sometimes, I admit it, to the point of worry. When I say worry, I’m not talking about sitting around fretting. I’m talking about thinking too much; I’m talking about wrestling with ‘what can I do,’ or ‘how can I help him’ type questions. In this case, the most prevalent question is ‘how can I motivate him’? Then I get this:
2Cr 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal.
Do not search for security in the world you inhabit. You tend to make mental checklists of things you need to do in order to gain control of your life. If only you could check everything off your list, you could relax and be at peace. But the more you work to accomplish that goal, the more things crop up on your list. The harder you try, the more frustrated you become.
There is a better way to find security in this life. Instead of scrutinizing your checklist, focus your attention on My Presence with you. This continual contact with Me will keep you in My Peace. Moreover, I will help you sort out what is important and what is not, what needs to be done now and what does not. Fix your eyes not on what is seen (your circumstances), but on what is unseen (My Presence).
I do make mental checklists, but how else am I going to even begin to manage the mess of my life? I need structure. I’m not the most organized person. I’m an artist. So any bit of organizational effort I make is absolutely necessary to put some structure in the picture, because I’m not the type of person that plans every moment. I’m more spontaneous than anything else. I tend to wing it.
The only time I seem to have a plan is when I consult God with prayer in the morning, and then I know what needs to be done and in most cases, because its His will, it flows that way; or if there’s some change, I’m able to flow with it. Otherwise, I’m like a car that is driving without a steering wheel. And my inconsistencies magnify themselves in my son.
In fact, since the issue with him is hereditary, and I’ve now connected the dots with behaviors of other members in my family in varied degrees, I think that it was just the mix of my DNA with his father’s that jumped it up to the umpth degree and full-blown manifestation of this issue in my son. I mean, obviously, I’m somewhat scattered, so that’s a mute point.
However, I’m seeing a bit of improvement in my son since the dietary changes started. He is certainly more calm, and I see a bit more maturing now. He looks more like a young man, versus a little kid, because he’s not bouncing off the walls in his energy levels now. He’s more even keeled, so that’s good. To get him to focus more on what he needs to do, perhaps I do need to look to the unseen.
In the course of all this discovery going on lately, I’ve realized that the old methods of punishing him are ineffective, but one new method works. Not that my son is particularly doing anything that merits punishment, but it’s the theology of it that I’m now looking at.
Perhaps the best method of motivation lies in deprivation. This would involve denying things that are typically available and ideally, that lack would initiate some action in order to get it back. Things that are unseen. In other words, if I remove all forms of distraction, particularly in the realm of media, until there is nothing else to focus on, perhaps I can get a more focused, motivated child; at least, until we get through this last push to complete this virtual school stuff. Methinks I’ve got a plan. Thank God.
