“Our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.” ~ Wilhelm von Humboldt
I think it is safe to say that we all know people who have allowed themselves to get carried away by things that had happened in their lives. Let’s fess up: I think it also is safe to say that we have allowed ourselves to get carried away by things that have happened in our lives. It seems to be natural. As soon as too much gets put on our plates, we often lose focus. If we lose focus, we cannot attend to the things that are really important and deal with the more unnecessary things later. We seem to think that we have to deal with everything immediately. That makes us an emotional mess.
When that happens, we become no good to ourselves or to others. Instead of being helpful, we become the people who need help. However, if we are carried away, we do not allow anyone to help us because, after all, being carried away with things requires that we also become martyrs. We will not allow anyone to help us because we deserve to suffer. We want to suffer. Or, more aptly, we want people to see us suffering so that they can feel sorry for us.
I imagine, more often that I care to admit, God looking down on us, seeing us in our own self-created, self-perpetuating dramas and laughing — not just laughter; but, big belly laughs. He must see the things that we deem to be so important, that we allow to throw us off track, as minuscule. After all, what, of ours, could possibly compare to His giving up His only Son to be tortured and killed in order to defeat sin and death?
When we compare the “traumas” of our lives to those suffered by Jesus Christ, we would have to admit that we do not have any reason to feel the way we so often do. Perspective is very important. The next time that you feel as if the entire world is off kilter, that nothing can possibly go right for you, that there is no hope, stop, take a deep breath, and ask God to put you back on track. Remember, He is omnipotent and can do anything He wants. If He wants to help you — and He does — He surely will.
Count on it. And count on Him.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God to help you keep yourself centered so that you can judge events in your life wisely instead of being carried away by them.