Thinking About These Things

“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace...” 1 Co 14:33

I woke up this morning and man am I tired! We hosted the Emmons' Christmas on Saturday afternoon and night, followed by the Miller Christmas the following day. I always pride myself in the expediency of clean-up after the event. Usually, by the time I go to bed 98% of my home looks as if nothing had occurred over the last 24 hours. That 2% the following morning is completed before Bruce ever comes downstairs. But this morning I came down to the same chaos I felt too tired to clean last night. All three guest rooms had beds with the covers twisted and piled in chaos. Several rooms had scattered clean dishes to put away until next year. A sink of dirty dishes lay floating in cold water, and a full dishwasher of clean dishes were waiting to be put away. Even as I sit here typing this, the persistent beep from my smoke detector demanding a new battery is maddening!

How on earth did the chaos occur? Why on earth didn't I do more last night so I wouldn't have to face it this morning? Bored? Tired? Getting sick perhaps? Looking around I found myself feeling discouraged, exhausted, and irritated. I began focusing on things in my life that seem a little chaotic at present. Pretty soon I was considering the things in my life that make me irritated and downright 'salty' as one of my best friends say. How did my 'tired' turn into my 'twisted imagination' of everything going wrong?

It is so easy to talk ourselves into discouragement and disillusionment when life seems chaotic. So many times, our mind is the battleground between us and God. He tells us that He changes seasons and reigns in perfect order, but we believe that our life will always look like it does now. ‘When we try to control the chaos, we ultimately leave no room for God to be God. We live in the harshness of the worst-case scenarios, even though that probably isn’t our reality at all. We get triggered by a small fear [or irritation], and instead of taming the thought, we feed it. We magnify it. We let it dictate our reaction. Everything gets blown out of proportion.’ Trustworthy, Lysa TerKeurst, p. 66.

We must tame the beast by starving the thoughts that deteriorate our confidence in God. By staying in God’s word and reminding our minds of His promises we can experience God’s peace in all of our troubled times. When the chaos starts demanding my thought participation I must remember the beautiful invitation from Philippians 4:8.

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."