Choices

One evening recently a dear friend and I sat talking about the fact that though she was praying and seeking God for clear direction, she seemed to receive no answer and couldn’t “see” the way she was supposed to go. As I listened to her, it became clear to me (isn’t it always easier to see/hear God’s direction for someone else than for ourselves?) that God had her exactly where she was for a specific purpose. She was unable to see where God wanted her to go next because He had called her to hide (and rejoice!) for a season under the shadow of His wings.

The end is a beginning
Inviting
Awash
In mystery, majesty,
Brilliancy
Crossed
In season
By travelers
Blown by the Wind
Tired
Expired
They yearn to begin
A life full of wonder
Renewed, like a child
Who enters the gate of a garden
And smiles.

History shows that nearly every nation has ultimately caved in to a very counter-intuitive (satanic?) temptation: That the only sensible way for 4 and 5-year-old children to begin their life-education journey is that they be ripped away from the care of Mom and Dad at home and turned over to "professional specialists" in state-controlled classrooms. Over time, a second fallacy took shape: That the teaching of academics is a more important, more difficult undertaking than training youth in God's spiritual basics. This latter task, apparently, is something "easily done at home on a 'whenever' basis." Regrettably, these two personal and culture-crippling myths now prevail in spite of centuries of evidence to the contrary.

Everybody deals with anxiety and depression, however some people have a hard time in managing it. As a result, here is a brief list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their most persistent fears and every day anxieties.

When facing a current or upcoming task that overwhelms you with a lot of anxiety, the first thing you can do is to divide the task into a series of smaller steps. Completing these smaller tasks one at a time will make the stress more manageable and increases your chances of success.

"THE CIRCUS WAGON"

One of my first memories was eating from a tin Barnum Animals Crackers box, painted to resemble a cheerfully colored circus wagon. But that wagon was also a cage. The animals pictured on the outside of the box were majestic, wild, and untamed beasts. They were also behind bars. The cookies inside the box were shaped into believable copies of jungle animals. These were not comic Disney animals with smiling faces and human characteristics. These beasts were the real things. I remember a rhino, a lion, an elephant and a hippo, and they all looked the way wild animals should look. They were just like the animals I had seen at the Bronx Zoo.

Delight yourself in the Lord;
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
and He will do it. Psalm 37:4-5

This verse is embedded in a chapter which differs from the over all scope we find in the Book of Psalms, for it mentions nothing of prayer or praise. But it is all instruction; it's " Mesihil – a teaching Psalm."

It's back drop is the prosperity of the wicked and the disgrace of the righteous, a type of situation where relationships are truly tested, "Shall I do as the Romans do or shall I stand alone and trust God?" (Read -- Ps. 73)

We must always remember it's only on the field of adversity that the degree of one's faith or love is proven.