Deep Thoughts Thursday . . .

It is time for another installment of Deep Thoughts Thursday . . .

And it becomes apparent to me that there are a lot of people in my world who are stressed out.  

Yours too?

Is it the time of year?  Is there something about the approaching month of March that makes us want to pull our hair out at the prospect of another thirty days spent indoors because it is freezing, raining, windy, snowing or a combination of all of the above?

Or maybe someone sent a memo to everyone's boss to increase demanding, soul consuming and time-sucking tasks on everyone.

I spoke with a friend of mine recently who is obviously managing too much at this point.  As he spit out a litany of things that he is struggling with I just asked him,

"Hey are you stressed out, bro?"

He nodded his head shamefully.   I promptly gave him a hug.  It didn't help much but it felt like the right thing to do in the moment.  Which made me think . . . "He is suffering from being trapped in the moment."

If he only knew that this thing he was worrying about was going to turn out alright he wouldn't be stressing.

Think about it, if you knew the thing you were stressing about was going to work itself out in time would you be obsessing over it like you are?  Probably not.  In fact, the only reason you are stressing about it is because it belongs to the future and anything can happen in the future!

Which means we have no control over what eventually happens.  

But let's face it, doesn't it all work out in time?  Don't things usually work out?  Most of the  time life goes on, you have food to eat and at least one person in the world that cares whether you are here or not.  And isn't that what really matters?

Time is a condition.  If we were in eternity right now we would be content with the present because there is an unlimited supply of them.  But because there are things like uncertainty and disease and (eventually) death we are much happier when we are in control of where things are going.  

In a sense the future is one big secret.  The only one who knows it is the one who makes it.  
And then I stumbled over this earlier today:

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Dt. 29:29)

It was read in a devotional called "Jesus Calling" and it said something like God has all the secrets of the future - stop trying to figure them out, they belong to Him.  He likes it that way so that we can come to him with the things we need.  

Think about it.  We slug our way through time so we cultivate a dependence on the One who really cares for us.  The more we try to be in control, the further we are from benefiting from the one in control.  

Stop trying to figure out the future and spend your time on the best you can do for now.  Let God handle the big stuff and you might be less stressed out!