What's for Dinner

There are many weighty issues on my mind, the state of our world, the suffering of so many people, crime, wars, political scandals, personal issues. It is overwhelming.  My heart and soul are bent under the weight of it all.

I have heard all the usual axioms: think positive, don't worry about what might or might not happen, in other words don't borrow trouble. Who's borrowing? One look at the news, or an honest evaluation of my own circumstance tell me I don't need to borrow any. There's plenty of trouble right here in River City. Yes, folks, plenty of trouble.



My devotionals, inspiration quotes, all give the same platitudes. Don't worry, trust. Storms bring abundant spiritual flowers. Trials strengthen your character. All true, yet said over and over they become nothing more inspirational than the clerk at the store telling you to have a nice day. We all know they don't really care if you are having a nice day or not. Well, very few.

And yet, those old platitudes still hold truth, even if they no longer give much comfort. We should not worry. We should trust God in all things, and yes, storms bring nourishment in the disguise of suffering, and those who have endured much do have strong character. I can rationalize all of it, yet for some reason, those words no longer touch my heart as they once did, not when the very issue of what's for dinner looms like a dark cloud over my head.

I haven't actually reached the point of not knowing what's for dinner, not yet, but my current temp position is reaching an end. At my age, the specter of job hunting is daunting. Regardless of what everyone says, age does, matter, and I spent a rather gloomy day after the announcement about my position and image after image of unpleasant possibilities played out in my mind.

Then, I remembered, The Turkey and The Lilies, other times the issues of what was for dinner, and how would I pay my bills were miraculously resolved by Divine intervention. Those memories reminded me of another truth. I have very little control over much of my life. God chose to intervene in miraculous ways in those circumstances, but He won't always. I can not force, bargain or bribe any miracles from God. I can ask, but I can't force Him.

One of the characters in my soon to be published novel, told another, "We should never try to play God. We have no idea which seemingly bad choice will lead to the most good."

God does, and because of that, we should trust Him. What appears to be a bad situation, can be turned around to good, if we have the faith to believe. As Christians, we know even death will lead to good, eternity with God. No more suffering, heartache, hunger, loneliness and all the other earthly woes.

Being fully human, it is hard to remain in that lofty realm of thought when our very existence is threatened. It takes practice. It takes perseverance. It takes faith and trust. I'm going to try harder to let it all go, concentrating on right now, on this moment, trusting God to take care of the rest, even if the circumstances are not the most pleasant, remembering seemingly bad situations can lead to the most good when left in God's hands.