The Countdown

A number of people recently commented to me on their lifetime, specifically how much time they have left on earth.  The trigger might have been the passing of a contemporary or the approach of a major decade milestone that brings on such morbid thoughts.  I hear these loved ones say, "Only 20 or 30 more years left!"  I always respond with the opposite viewpoint, "What if you die tomorrow, how do you want to spend today?"  The fact is we do not control when we die, unless we choose to do so prematurely.  But we do control how we live! By living each day to the fullest, we accrue a life of value, meaning, and purpose.  "That's so simple!" one friend responded.  Yes, but simple is not easy. To focus on the gift of this day takes discipline in our thinking, but the rewards are great!  Squeezing the juice out of each day frees our mind from needless worry over those things we cannot control and maximizes our positive impact on those things we can control!  Melissa worked at focusing on making each day count, as her days became more numbered.  How did she do that?  She prayed constantly for God's peace and to trust Him with tomorrow, then she concentrated on loving those around her today.  When she was told she had only weeks left to live, she immediately went shopping for her sister's birthday gift and her father's day presents. This week, I'm going to try to live like Melissa, making each day count, praying and trusting my Lord for the future and doing my best to be a blessings to others each day.  Have a great week!    

Feelings

I have an amazing capacity to ruminate.  I stew.  I worry.  I toss problems over and about in my mind like a sea tossing a ship--- a very destructive thing to do.  Our minds steer our lives.  Our thoughts point us in the right or wrong direction.  Now, problem solving is fine, but ruminating is fretting over those things which we cannot control, past, present or future.  Focusing on circumstances, problems, worries, anxieties sap the very strength and joy out of our lives. I listened to a sermon this Sunday that stated "your focus determines your feelings."   If we focus on our problems, we will be anxious and maybe depressed, but definitely not joyful!  If we choose to focus on our God who loves us, our feelings change.  We become relaxed.  Joyful.  All I have to do is remind myself that eternity is coming, and whatever I am so upset about this moment will pass so quickly that I won't even remember it two years from now.  In the grand scheme of eternity, almost all of what I stress about is minutia.  When I think about all the ways God has provided in the past, I can more easily trust His provision with whatever is stressing me right now.  Melissa said in her witness, "God answers our prayers in the little things, so we can trust Him with the big things." Melissa was right about keeping a prayer journal, too.  Just last week I was so upset about a work issue, and God sent the perfect answer- a gift straight from heaven!!  A few days later I looked at my journal and realized how distressed I had been, and how quickly I had forgotten God's solution!!  So, keep track of all those answered prayers, and remember, nothing is too big for our Faithful Creator, who just longs to bless us!!  Blessings on your day!

Control

 Everyone feels a need to be in control of their lives. When we feel threatened by new circumstances, new losses, or new challenges, we can easily feel a need for more control.  I once knew a Pastor who lost his church of many years because he started controlling every decision and every church matter.  Only after the damage was done did a psychiatric nurse have the chance to identify the coping mechanisms behind the behavior. His controlling behavior began shortly after loosing both his parents within a few months. So much of what we do is unconscious!  

If anyone needed to feel control, it must have been Melissa, as her cancer continued to grow   through her lungs despite treatment.  Yet, she focused on what she could give to others, not herself.  She prayed for peace constantly and received it. She made plans and always had "things to look forward to", and focused on them. She successfully used her precious last days on earth to bless others and bring God's love to them!  She relinquished control to her Lord, because she knew He loved her so much!  She trusted God's plan, even though it made no sense to her. "If God takes me home now, it's to spare me from something worse,"  she explained to her shocked friends when she had only weeks left to live.  Even in the face of the ultimate out of control of death, Melissa knew the secret to peace: trusting our Faithful Creator! 

Making Days Count

Today is Melissa's Birthday!  She was born 26 years ago today.  It seems like a long time ago in some ways, and in other ways not so long.  Melissa quoted a saying in her Prayer Journal .   "Don't just count your days, make your days count."   She believed it was not how many days we get on this earth, but how we use them!!  I know of a woman who is afraid to leave her house, a prisoner of her own mind, limited by her fears.  She may live a long time, but she is not well enough to touch people positively.   We have a choice to take each day, each moment, and make it count!  How?  By serving God and helping others.  The cross says it all: our vertical relationship to the Lord and our horizontal relationship with others are all that matter in this life.  So, today, I will connect with the people around me, as God sends them to me, and cherish the moments I have with each, just as I cherish the memories of my moments with Melissa. And I am so very grateful for each and every one: each moment, each memory, each precious person, and each day!  Hope your day is great!

Conquering Anxiety

"Everybody needs a half hour daily with God, unless you are really, really, really busy..................... then you need an hour."  An outburst of laughter from the listeners followed these words.  Who has time for reflecting, praying, meditating when life comes at us in double barrels?   Yet, truer words were never spoken!  The more we remember that Someone with endless power, limitless energy, immeasurable goodness, and total love stands next to us to help us through everything, the calmer we can be!  And, being mere humans, we have to work at remembering we are not alone-- with notes on the mirror or CD's in the car or whatever it takes to stay focused on God.  When my Dad's health began to deteriorate, my Mom asked me to embroider her a sampler for her wall:  "Lord, help me to remember that nothing will happen today that you and I can't handle."  She hung it on the wall facing her bed, so it was the first thing she saw as she got up every morning. And kneeling in prayer was the last thing she did before getting into bed each night. Melissa used "Our Daily Bread" books to read before retiring.  Those are the routines that keep us calm in every storm, and afloat in every hurricane!  So, I will make myself read the reflection on my computer "homepage" before logging into my email today, because conquering anxiety requires focusing on the Lord. Blessings on your day!

Emotional Fortitude

I was talking with a person who has an intensely draining job: a social worker in an Intensive Care Unit.  She spends her whole day, day after day, comforting families in distress while their loved ones titer on the edge of death.  Can you imagine?  How does one emotionally recover after a day in a job like that?!  I found myself recommending my gold-standard intervention: a gratitude journal!  Sometimes the things we experience are so emotionally exhausting and debilitating that rehashing them in a journal or talking to a friend just increases the trauma.  Indeed, the research on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder suggests that people who can stop themselves from ruminating over negative experiences and instead enjoy simple life events recover faster. (Shopping therapy!)  I find I need a gratitude attitude the most when I am under intense stress.  So, as I start this week bracing myself for a hyper-speed work environment, I will follow Melissa's example in listing the things for which I am grateful---focusing on the positive!   Melissa made a point of having "things to look forward to" and focusing on those things, however small and simple the pleasures.  Gratitude provides us with amazing emotional fortitude.  So, I hope you can see the blessings of your day, even if you don't have time to write them down, and say a little prayer of "thanks".  I'm thankful for you in reading this! Gratefully, Janice

Stretching

Stretching is important to maintain flexibility and full range of motion for our muscles and joints. But God has been stretching me a lot lately, and that's a whole different ball game. God stretches me by pulling me out of my comfort zone, calling me to do new things that I never wanted to do.... like write a blog.... or start a publishing company.  Now I feel called to make a video about Melissa and put in on the net.... maybe even Youtube!  This could be really humiliating, especially at my less photogenic stage of life. The Lord continually reminds me that it's not about me, but Him.  It's all about my helping others to get to the Source of the only real Peace and Joy available in this life, and that's a life with God.  Melissa knew all about looking for love "in all the wrong places" and finally found it with Jesus. And she never stopped trying to point her friends in the right direction, to save them the heartbreak of blind alleys and dead ends in their search for meaning, fulfillment, the ultimate relationship.  Stretching by God keeps me flexible in my thoughts and skills, but also keeps me hanging on tight to my Lord. I trust that I can do anything with God, and nothing worth doing without Him.  I'm sure that's another positive outcome of God-stretching: I remain so aware of how much I need Him.  So, I'll trust the Holy Spirit to be in my video, too.  With the help of God, whatever I do will be helpful to others, even if I never find out. What a great reassurance!  Blessings on you day!