"Flower-strewn Pathways"

You know how some people run all day and forget to just take things in and be grateful for the moments that they are given…. I do too. In fact, I tend to be someone like that.

All day yesterday I was worried about the many different things that I was supposed to get done today. Like:

1. Take my first test of the day at 7am
2. Run from there to work
3. From work run to chapel and work some more
4. From chapel to my second class of the day
5. From class back to my Apartment to study for a second test that I had and eat lunch
6. From lunch to my test
7. From my test to a job interview
8. From the job interview to a meeting with the dean
9. From the dean to getting ready for Inner City Ministries
10. From Inner City to working on my information due for Research Methods tomorrow
11. From studying to bed!

In all of this I noticed a few things were missing: Personal time with God’s word and rest. I’m more bothered by the first one though. It’s so easy to just get caught up in the busy rush of the day and I sometimes forget that without God I would not have any of the blessings that I do have. I keep thinking about the need to “do all in the name of the Lord” and what that means for me. Can others see Christ in me as I rush around like a chicken with my head cut off? It’s hard for anyone to notice anything really. J

In class yesterday morning, after my test, in a rush to get out the door and get the next thing done, I knocked over a bunch of chairs and disrupted the class while they were still taking the test. I think this was my moment of “discovery”. I realized that I needed to slow down and trust God that everything was going to get done without all of the rushing around and worry.

I went back to my Apartment to start the day over. I put my Bible in my book bag and headed of to work. I went ahead and talked to the Dean while at work to mark that off my list and I sat down to read my Bible while the office was not busy. While reading my Bible I found a poem that my grandma gave to me when I had just become a teenager. Back then everything seemed like a tragedy. ;)

“God hath not promised

Skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways

All our lives through,

Sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow,

Peace without pain.

But God hath promised

Strength for the day,

Rest for the labor,

Light for the way,

Grace for the trials,

Help from above,

Unfailing sympathy,

Undying love.”

Author Unknown

Other verses that helped today are:

Isaiah 26:3

Proverbs 3:13-17

Philippians 4:6-7

Colossians 3:15