The Wednesday Word 4.19.2023

 

Philippians 4:4-8, 12-13 NLT

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise…12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

 

I had a little hissy fit this morning over the aftermath of a household accident that occurred the other day. It was the kind of thing that happened out of the blue and caused major disruption. The amazing thing is that the damage was limited and that I sustained no injury. Astounding, as a matter of fact, considering everything that fell on me. I spent the next few days thanking God for sparing me from any real harm every time I thought about it. But that gratitude fizzled this morning. Trying to hurry through my normal routine in order to make an appointment, my frustration with the inconvenience boiled over. Ten minutes later, embarrassed and contrite, I apologized to my husband for the outburst. I quietly apologized to God for my ungrateful turn.

 

All well and good, except, God wanted to drive home the point. As I pulled out of my neighborhood on to the state route, a hearse was making its way up the hill. As is the sign of respect in many parts of our country, I pulled over to allow the cortège to pass. The message was not lost. Life on this earth is filled with twists and turns, some trivial and some momentous, in the grand scheme of things. Here I was, walking to my car, driving to join dear friends for an afternoon of sharing on a topic that I love, enjoying the beautiful spring day. I had allowed the trivial to disturb my peace. I had allowed the trivial to dominate my thoughts and overshadow the myriad blessings of my day. 

 

When we keep our perspective focused on God, the trivial remains just that. Over time, we may grow to understand that the day to day events of this life might all fall into that category. Over time, we may grow to see that it is the love and grace God has for us that really matters…something to pray about.

 

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H.













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Wednesday Word 4.12.2023

Image
  John 20:1-9 New Living Translation   The Resurrection 1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus mu
Read more

The Wednesday Word 10.06.2021

Image
  John 3:16-21   New Living Translation 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” Light is amazing when you think about it. Genesis 1:1-4 tells us, “1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the d
Read more

Wednesday Word 5.26.2021

Image
 Thoughts on last Sunday's text... Acts 2:1-8 - New International Version 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? I have always been fascinated by the idea of the "tongues of fire." What can the fire signify? I guess for me, it is the character of fire.  The fire consu
Read more