Do not ask God for a Band-Aid to cover up your worries, your problems, your fears, your scars. Ask Him to heal you of them. Alleviate you of them. Take them on. He can take the stress of your world and toss it in the trash can of your life's desktop. Erasing it all, leaving you less burdened and more free.
Life is such a gift. One most of us don't even see as a gift, but rather as a given. Something we deserve and have simply because. NO! It is a gift just like Legos are a gift to a child on his birthday. Just like flowers are a gift on Valentine's Day. Like something someone gives you because they think you are special and deserving of it. We are all special because we have life.
The problem is, that we are so consumed with the "what ifs" of losing, altering, changing, defaulting on this life, that we never begin to enjoy it. I likened this to A in the car to our boys receiving a new Star Wars guy, but for fear of never letting him get damaged, they keep it on the shelf to collect dust. What kid is gonna do that? None that I know. So why do we, as adults, accept this life we are given, but instead of ripping open the package and enjoying it, we guard it, for fear of what may never be.
Jesus said that heaven is filled with those who have the faith of a child, yet as adults, we illustrate none of that. No more do we pause at the genuine wonder of what life is. Just that. Not try to dissect it or discover some underlying meaning of it. Wait, you want an underlying meaning of why you are here?Okay. I got one. Because God gave you a gift.
And I don't know about y'all, but when I give a gift, I like to see people open it. I love to see their faces when they see what they got. How come some of us - almost all of us - haven't opened up that gift yet? Why is it still on the shelf? Why instead do we constantly question why we have it and worry about how we're gonna one day lose it?
If you only worry about the past and the future, you get no presents.
Worry breeds undue stress. Physically and emotionally damaging stress. A ton of it. Like "bring in the big yellow Tonka trucks" ton of it.
Constantly worrying about what may or may not happen is like worrying,"I may be hit by a bus today" everyday, all day long. Sure, that'd be horrible, but if you can't control it, why allow it to control you?
This blog has always been about honesty. Honesty about me, my fiancee A, our kiddos, our lives. And to keep in the spirit of that honesty, I try to relay the true happenings of our journey to you readers. I hope I don't come across too honest for some, but them's the breaks.
And while, sure, there are some things about our day-to-days that most of you will never know about, it is my hope that the stuff I do talk about is the most universal. Can do the most good. Can reach the most people. Remember, I'm no expert. I'm just a role model-in-training trying his best to live out this gift God gave me...
...that has the coolest customer service department idea of any gift I've ever heard of: The hotline to the manufacturer is open 24/7.
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| painting by Akiane Kramarik |
