Whack-a-Mole

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on…And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need then. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.” Matthew 6:24-33

When my daughter Caroline was around 8 years old, I remember we took our kids to an arcade while on vacation. I can still see that little blonde headed child excited to play Whack-a-Mole. This game was a surface of holes offering a mechanical mole to randomly pop up through one of the them. When it was the person’s turn, they were to try to whack the mole with a rubber mallet before it disappeared back into the box. Caroline’s excitement quickly turned into frustration when she kept missing the mole. Eventually, she started whacking at all of the holes before the mole even popped up. I kept trying to tell her to calm down and wait until the mole appeared before swinging the mallet. Needless to say, that little girl wore her arm out before the mole ever popped up.

How many days are we like that little child? Wearing ourselves out by whacking at things that aren’t even happening, swinging our emotions at situations that haven’t even occurred. We worry about things that never come to be. We take a turn at hitting our discontent with a consumer based swing, purchasing things we do not need in an effort to satisfy. Between worry and discontent we take on the goal of the pagans…running after things that do not satisfy…fearing our ‘have nots’ of earthly things over recognizing our ‘haves’ of the spiritual things. We will wear ourselves out whacking these moles that may even not appear, and cannot satisfy if they do. Instead of swinging our mallet we must swing our Sword when walking out our journeys. Our sword of the Spirit is the word of God and we must sharpen it so we will be prepared when our hearts are not satisfied and our minds are full of worry.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain...But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." 1 Timothy 6:6-11