My neighbors and I were evacuated once again this year; first time was for a potential dam failure, this time for a ruptured main gas line just over 100 steps from my front door. At first we were instructed to move down another three doors, you know – just in case. So there we sat underneath a big oak tree in camp chairs enjoying a nice cool breeze, a friendly chat, bottled waters the fire department brought us, and the whooshing sound of releasing gas as we watched the hub-bub around us. It was later decided the cities electricity would be turned off; the power sub-station just happened to be at the same corner as the leaking gas line; a spark would not have been a good thing, could have made our small town smaller. We were instructed to evacuate the area during repairs; we needed to leave – without our vehicles. Our street has been under construction for few weeks leaving us no driveway access, so we’ve been parking in the church lot, which yes – also happens to be located at the same corner as the leak, so on foot we left. Forget reality TV, I’ve had enough of reality life out my front window the past month that you just can’t script. So what do you do with such circumstances? We are faced every day with crazy situations. Some might wonder if they have a target on their back inviting chaos to take aim. Granted this may sound like an over exaggeration to some, while others might say “Yup, that sums up my life alright”.
How often do we hear remarks such as: Why me? What’s next? I can’t catch a break? It’s not fair! I can’t handle one more thing! If somethings going to happen – it will happen to me.
Is it possible to invite peace and rest into our lives or turmoil and unrest by the thoughts we entertain? Does what we focus on and the meaning we give to it have negative or positive impact? Ever notice if we are discouraged or upset that that we are more sensitive to everything; that molehills seem like mountains? Yet, when we are joyful or thinking positively, the same situations appear to roll off our backs like water on a duck and we can take the chaos in stride with peace of mind.
So what are we focusing on, is it the negative aspects of the situation or looking for the silver lining? In troubling situations are we able to honestly say “God, I’m not going to stress over this, I trust you to work all this out for the good”? We are advised to “Let not your heart be troubled”; “let not”, sounds like a choice. A choice to take our thoughts captive, to think upon whatever is praiseworthy, lovely, noble, of good report (positive),…
What will be your focus?
Beyond the Silver Coin 