I'm Close

I know, I’ve been missing again. I just can’t come up with the time to write my thoughts. Well, that’s not exactly the reality—I can’t come up with the time to think any thoughts.

I find myself so busy, and, at the end of the day have little to show for it. One of my favorite verses, like many people, is Jeremiah 29:11-13, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

I’m pretty sure this crazy busy-ness is not God’s plan for me, but I can’t seem to get around it. My job is high-pressure, high-stress for the next two months and doesn’t allow for stopping to celebrate Thanksgiving or prepare for Christmas. Plus, on top of that, our elevator isn’t working which my son says is good for me (of course, he hasn’t had surgery on two knees and one hip as well as a broken ankle). The elevator will require major, major overhaul and will take some time.

Other parts of my life are, well, shaky at best; and nothing seems to be working exactly as it should. It’s times like these when, if left to my own devices, feelings of despondency would overtake me, but I think of the “advice” I have often given to others—when a football team gets close to the goal line, that’s when the big guns come out and when the slightest forward movement is tougher. So, I’m thinking I’m getting close to a breakthrough.

I also remind myself that whatever I feed, that’s what grows. I can feed my gloom or I can feed my thankfulness for health, wiener roasts, friends, and lots of good things. Psalm 3:3, “But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.”

♫ “When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.” ♫
Brendan Graham and Rolf Lovland.