Worry Beads and How to Lose Them
Reading the Scripture is a good way to pry my fingers off my worry beads. Face it: These are worrying days!
It’s not like I can add an hour to my life by worrying anyway. (Luke 12:25)
Of course I know better than to say I worry – but I sure have concerns!
No, I don’t have real beads; I can have emotional ones that on some days feel as tangible as the beaded necklaces the grandkids make for me!
Sometimes, usually, in the middle of the night, I can go through my worry beads concern by concern, before I remember to pray.
A big worry seems to be wondering what is God doing in any situation. (If He worried, would it be about what I am doing in some situations?)
Recently, when I opened my Bible, I stumbled across a verse—i.e. I just opened my Bible right to Ecclesiastes 11, and began reading at verse 5. No, I don’t recommend reading Scripture the way I did.
However, landing serendipitously on that one verse, got me thinking about many things, especially those “worry beads.”
Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)
I do not know – cannot understand, as one translation of Ecclesiastes 11:5 says – what God is up to; just as I cannot know the path of the wind or a developing life in the womb: things that seem familiar!
How then can I understand the One who never changes, but who is in the business of changing so much? (Malachi 3:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
I understand Him by what I see Him doing.
And what he says.
The Lord who changes not may change the situation that wears and wearies me; or He will change me, if I am willing. Or, He might just change both. I can better understand God by doing.
Solomon shows me I still have choices what to plant in an autumn’s garden, even if I can’t know the outcomes.
Even if life seems unfamiliar, even meaningless, I can work, rejoice, and refuse to worry, just for today. (Ecclesiastes11:6-10)
Life is short, Solomon urges me then So, refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy.
Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden. ~Corrie tenBoom
Willingness to change many habits, attitudes, and actions is like finding a fountain of youth. But, willingness to hold fast to the unchanging, good God in uncertain times is as essential. (Isaiah 33:6)
So, today, I’ll limit the TV news, which feeds Potomac fever, and keeps me stirred up. Having a little more time, then, means time to to know God in His word. (Psalm 37)
Maybe it’s time for a walk, to look for traces of His Hand at work. in the changing season that autumn is. Hmmmm. I might see them better if I take a grandchild with me.
Better than WORRYING: walking with grandkids!
P.S. You might like ~ When You Don’t Desire God’s Word