To be at peace with yourself takes the effort. It takes a path you are willing to follow to get there.
It takes a resistance to fear, to the evil that comes from every aspect of life it would seem these days.
But with the latest catastrophic thing in our lives right around the corner, we can easily get preoccupied with the notion of not being at peace. At peace with ourselves, at peace with each other. A level set with life that only God can provide I would think.
But it starts with us. We cannot succumb to fear. To our anger. We must conquer it. Our fear of circumstances. Our fear of the world around us.
People do so many things that make me mad but Angry isn’t how I want to spend what time I have Cognitive dissonance they call it I wonder just how small it Could be made to be in me?
life in the city is so densely packed fear of each other is an accepted fact fear soaks into concrete just like grease fear is the antithesis of peace – “TIme I Have” by David Crosby
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. – Mathew 6:34
It takes effort finding peace in ourselves with the “time we have” and the world around us. The opposite of that is to surrender to fear, to give in to the darkness around us. It will mean we may need help. It is there in many ways, we can help each other… we can look to Him for the help.
Are you prepared to not surrender to fear? To not let worry consume you? Or have you already allowed other things to take over your peace?
There are days when it isn’t welcome. The drama and urgency of others hits you square in the head. You just want to leave it alone, let it be something someone else needs to know, someone else needs to deal with.
It’s really not that you don’t care, close family and friends deserve the critical points that make up drama in their lives as much as anyone. We all have those moments, those days, those situations that put drama in our lives.
Sometimes it seems it is self inflicted – we can attract drama in our lives like a magnet. We even are unaware and unconscious about it coming and are surprised when the drama arrives. Things do go another direction than we expect, things find their ways into our lives that just make things so much more difficult than we are expecting, than we are wanting.
But there are times when our friends and family want to share drama. Even more unexpected than our own, it comes with the needs and wants of their expectations, which sometimes just.. aren’t… yours. You just can’t deal with it and you take a deep breath. Because after all it is a loved one… you have compassion for their plight. You understand your dilemma but it just isn’t something you can deal with at that time. Maybe some other day, but not today.
So then you feel like you don’t care. It tips the scales on the things you are dealing with at the moment, and makes it even worse in some ways because you want to be there for them. But it is that moment when you can not. It feels wrong.
As a person who cares about things (like most of us do), especially your family and close friends… it feels frustrating -yet is probably better for them that they know there are those points in the day, week, month. moment that it just has to be a… NO Drama Zone.
Worry. There’s one thing that seems to be able to consume so much of your life in so many ways that it can become such a fixation that little else matters. Whether it involves work, your family, your friends, your health, your finances, what others think of you, what you will do today or tomorrow… and on and on.
It’s not that you can’t be concerned, that you cannot plan things and be careful to manuever those things that can get in your way. We all have to go through our lives with eyes wide open and watch for the obstacles we can avoid. But taking “worry” to a point in your life that it stops you from experiencing what God has given you is just not a good course to take.
When my wife and I had our first child, every thing had changed about worry. We would worry did he have enough to eat, enough sleep, were we paying enough attention to him? If he would sneeze we would imagine the worse and always be consulting books or family and friends.
Over the years we have learned that there are only some things we can do as parents, and we have to be concerned about our children (we love them), but we are going to leave it up to God as well. We have to plant the core-things in them that they need to make it through life, but in the end we cannot be standing next to them every step of the way.
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I know that it was something that would need God’s help. My wife has been there to help me through. Even as she has been my angel (because I believe God sent her to me so many years ago), I know that some of it is built on faith to take it one day at a time. Worry could easily consume every minute of every day.
Worry will make you older faster, it can replace the good things in front of you with an awkward view and dangerous perspective. It can consume so much of your life and in exchange repel others around you. So the end it seems, life is the experience and all that goes with it.
As Jason Mraz says below in a song about his friend who fought cancer, “The remedy is the experience.” Don’t let it control your life. Be strong.
Well i saw fireworks from the freeway And behind closed eyes I cannot make them go away ‘Cause you were born on the fourth of July, freedom ring Now something on the surface it stings I said something on the surface Well it kind of makes me nervous Who says that you deserve this And what kind of god would serve this? We will cure this dirty old disease Well if you’ve got the poison I’ve got the remedy
The remedy is the experience. This is a dangerous liaison I say the comedy is that it’s serious. This is a strange enough new play on words I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend The rest of your nights with the light on So shine the light on all of your friends When it all amounts to nothing in the end.
I won’t worry my life away. I won’t worry my life away.
Well i heard two men talking on the radio In a cross fire kind of reality show Uncovering the ways to plan the next big attack They were counting down the ways to stab The brother in the be right back after this The unavoidable kiss, where the minty fresh Death breath is sure to outlast this catastrophe Dance with me, because if you’ve got the poison, I’ve got the remedy
The remedy is the experience. This is a dangerous liaison I say the comedy is that it’s serious. This is a strange enough new play on words I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend The rest of your nights with the light on So shine the light on all of your friends When it all amounts to nothing in the end.
I won’t worry my life away. I won’t worry my life away.
When I fall in love I take my time There’s no need to hurry when I’m making up my mind You can turn off the sun but I’m still gonna shine and I’ll tell you why
Because
The remedy is the experience. This is a dangerous liaison I say the comedy is that it’s serious. This is a strange enough new play on words I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend The rest of your nights with the light on So shine the light on all of your friends When it all amounts to nothing in the end.
I won’t worry my life away I won’t worry my life away I won’t and I won’t and I won’t
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Mathew 6:34
Tracks In The Dust 