Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen? [Ecclesiastes 8:7 (NLT)]
Hoping to get a good cardio workout, I’d ramped up the resistance and programmed the machine for a variety of hills, some of which were real killers. Whenever I glanced down at the screen, I groaned at what lay ahead of me. No matter where I was in the program, I was already looking ahead and dreading the next big challenge. Every time I looked at the timer, I lamented the length of time remaining for this self-inflicted torture. After placing my towel over the screen, the workout seemed easier. No longer able to see the hills or time remaining, I stopped dreading the next challenge and the ones after that. I just pumped away, secure in the knowledge that, eventually, my workout would be over.
We get to program the challenges on exercise equipment and, when they get too tough, we can always lower the resistance and even get off the machine. Life, however, doesn’t work that way—we don’t get to determine how difficult our lives will be nor do we get to jump off when the going gets tough; we just have to continue trudging along. While we can determine the duration and intensity of a workout, it is God who determines the length and intensity of our run on earth and only He knows when our time is up. There’s no point in spoiling our life’s journey by agonizing about the challenges down the road when we may not even get there! Only God knows the future and all we can do is commit it into His loving hands.
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. [Corrie Ten Boom]
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” [James 4:13-15 (NLT)]
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It’s that time of year again. Signs in stores say it, holiday lights in yards and on rooftops proclaim it, and we might greet one another in church with it. We send out cards with its message, sing of it and, yet, we’re bereft of it. We think we’ll have it when our chores are done, the cards mailed, the house cleaned, the tree decorated, the lights up, the cookies baked, the gifts purchased, the packages wrapped, and the bills paid. We sure we’ll get it if we reach our destination without delay or losing luggage or once our children arrive safely home. As long as everyone stays healthy, no food gets burnt, nothing is broken, politics isn’t discussed, no one gets drunk, and the back-ordered gift arrives in time, we’re sure to have it then. Yet, even when everything goes as planned (and believe me it won’t), it seems to escape us.
If I told you that 88% of Americans own four or five of these, you’d probably think of televisions until I told you that less than a fifth of Americans actually use them regularly. It’s the Bible—almost all of us have more than one and yet few of us ever open it more than a few times a year.
I recently walked by a home that has a large sign at its front door: “Smile, you’re on camera!” We’ve got baby monitors and nanny cams and can see who is at the door with a glance at our cell phones! Cameras are disguised as working clocks, lightbulbs, phone chargers and smoke detectors. No moment is private if a cell phone is nearby and our most embarrassing moments may find their way onto Facebook or YouTube. Police have body cams, cyclists have Go-Pros, drivers have dash cams, drones can watch us sunbathing in the yard, and schools embed RFID chips in student ID badges. We’re even monitored while in department store dressing rooms (an unsettling thought when trying on bathing suits!) Two years ago, hidden cameras were found in a beach house that was rented out to unsuspecting vacationers. Cameras are everywhere and no place is private; this whole surveillance thing is rather disquieting.
As the weather up north cools, our snowbird neighbors have begun returning to their southwest Florida homes. One neighbor recently arrived from Portland, Oregon, a city that ranks third in a list of cities with the most depressing winters. Their weather forecast alternates between cloudy with rain showers to partly cloudy with a 60% chance of rain and that’s not likely to improve! Their early November temperatures will range from highs in the mid-60s to lows in the mid-40s with a UV index that never gets above a 2. On the other hand, our ten-day forecast fluctuates between sunny and mostly sunny with no more than a 10% chance of rain. Temperatures will rise to the mid-80s during the day and fall to the mid-60s at night; the UV index is 6 or 7. In short, Portland is damp, gray and dreary and we’re dry, warm and sunny (and should wear sunblock). On my neighbor’s first day back in our tropical paradise, while relaxing on her lanai with a book, she happened to fall asleep. Upon waking, hearing the mockingbird’s happy song and feeling the warm gentle breeze on her face, she had a moment of confusion and forgot where she was. Feeling incredibly peaceful, relaxed and refreshed, for a moment she actually thought she’d died and gone to heaven!
Saturday morning, my husband and I arrived at a nearby park for our morning walk. Banners and tables were being set up for a fundraising walk. Giving it no thought, we continued onto the trail where we saw signs indicating the event was for suicide prevention. As we returned to the community center, we heard the mournful sound of bagpipes and found the participants gathering, many of whom were wearing shirts in memory of loved ones they’d lost to suicide.
Devotions of the Heart 