Growing up as a child we often used the phrase, “Take a chill pill and relax.” Well today I am asking does that chill pills still exist? At times I just wish to be a kid again.
Life can be extremely busy and over-complicated if we allow it to be. The Bible says that we are hard pressed on every side… which makes it easy to find something to worry about. This busyness can easily cause us to feel overwhelmed. In fact, we can get so preoccupied with problems that we never solve any of them.
Too many irons in the fire!
I once read that the old firewood stove would sit in the kitchen with multiple irons in them. The women of those days would touch their finger to their tongue and then to the irons to see which one was the hottest. It was the hottest iron that got used. What are you saying pastor? Tackle one problem at a time!
The Bible illustrates a story of Jesus paying a visit to the home of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy in the kitchen being the good hostess, and she got angry with Mary who just sat in the living room carrying on a polite conversation with Jesus. Martha asked Jesus to tell Mary to get to work and help in the kitchen. And Jesus told her that she was troubled with too many things and that she needed to “Take a chill pill and relax” and realize what was important.
When the issues of life seem to be coming at us full force out of nowhere like a raging lion, we often have trouble handling them. We begin to worry about what is going to happen tomorrow if we do not get everything done today. Well I have news for you… tomorrow is not promised; therefore, do not allow the problems of tomorrow rob you of the joys of today. Instead take it one day at a time.
Let us not become paralyzed with doubt, fear, and anxiety because we are trying to cure all the world’s problems in one day. Have you ever seen a lion tamer at work? A lion tamer carries a chair into the cage. I am told that the chair is the most important piece of equipment that the tamer has. The tamer will point the chair at the lion and the animal will try to focus on all four legs of the chair at once and become sort-of paralyzed. Their attention is fragmented, and they are disabled and weakened.
Again, think about your own life. When you try to think about different problems at the same time, it is difficult to focus on either. When you worry about how you will get everything done, you lose the ability to even get one thing done.
Let us strive to take one day at a time, knowing that God will bless us with everything we need daily!
God bless you,
Pastor Cooper
