Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Things That Could Potentially Be Stressing Me Out Right Now...

1. My unmade bed
2. That gunky stuff on the bathroom sink
3. The pile of dishes on my kitchen counter
4. The dust bunny on my hallway floor
5. My still-awake toddler who is supposed to be napping
6. The amazing quantity of holey socks in my sock drawer
7. The fact that I'm not adding anything to the family finances this semester
8. The piles of yet-to-be-paid bills and stacks of paper to "deal with" on my desk
9. The unfinished detail painting projects around the house
10. Questioning whether we'll be able to make the budget this month
11. Wondering if my toddler will ever learn how to obey (and joyfully!)
12. Wondering if I'm cut out to be a parent at all
13. Trying to find the intersection between discipline and grace
14. Hoping I'm a good enough wife/daughter/friend
15. Considering the many children in the world starving to death and wondering if I'm doing enough to help them
16. Speculating about whether God loves me as much as He says He does

But, ironically, they're not.

At this moment, I'm at peace. At this moment, I'm finding rest. And those are things I haven't been allowing myself to experience enough lately. Instead, these past few days, I've been letting Satan tempt me to despair over all these silly things. Thankfully, I have a loving husband and a gracious Heavenly Father who have both encouraged me to alter my perspective today.

Who knows what 5 minutes from now will bring, but hopefully, even then, I'll be able to say,

"My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from Him.
He alone is my Rock and my Salvation;
He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."
(Psalm 62)

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Aaron Keyes has a great rendition of this psalm in contemporary song form. If you're feeling a lack of peace and have 5 minutes to give it a listen, I highly recommend it.