“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Do you want to know the truth about worry? It hits everyone. It is not an ailment just for weaklings or cowards. Worry is the cat you throw out only to have it back in before you can close the door.
Worry has another side. It proves we care very much, and that we appreciate our God-given gifts and loved ones. In a way, it is a sign of strength, for if we can turn it to faith, then faith can be just as strong. And to overcome worry, or to at least control it, there must be faith.
Faith, and the knowledge that if you could be in all the places, watching closely all the things about which you are concerned, you couldn’t do a tenth as much good as one simple prayer.
We are taught, “Be not anxious,” “Fear not,” and “Be not afraid,” and too quickly we become anxious, fearful, and very frightened. But even then, we have only to put worry to flight by remembering those quieting words that are so absolutely true, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Recently we had a summer storm. It was rumbling and heavy with darkness. The lightning flashed across the sky and currents. When the first huge drops of rain spattered across the walks and lawns, our thoughts turned to the safety of anyone or anything that might be caught out in the wind and rain.
We’ve been through many summer storms. Some of them left permanent marks upon our memories. The threatening, the darkness, the pressure of the atmosphere are not so different from the emotional storms of the human life. We see lives under pressure bend to and fro in the uncertainty of life. We know concern for the safety of those who experience emotional storms. Then we know the only answer is in God’s hands. There is no other way.
The good earth rights itself quickly after a storm. Nature comes forth more richly for having gone through the storm, and the scars are lost in new growth. And blessed are we when we lift ourselves up to a new, deeper radiance and peace.
Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.
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