Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Matthew 6:34

Good Morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the overcast day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! When I stepped outside this morning, the clouds were glowing from the city lights, but no sign of the moon or stars, because of the cloud cover. It really looks like winter outside, but the weather is warm!

Lots of people were taking advantage of the warm, windy weather yesterday at the Park, I would rather walk early in the morning, when just the regulars are out, but one day I was following behind a father and his two children, a boy about three and a girl about five.
Dad and daughter, who was talking non-stop, were walking ahead of the little boy, who was unaware that I had caught up with him and was walking beside him. I was thinking how cute he was, just trudging along by himself, so I spoke to him about what a long ways he had walked and he looked at me and then he started talking . I couldn't understand what he was saying, but Papa turned around and started to pay attention to his son, then. You can never be too careful, even on a boardwalk, in the Park.

But, anyway, all was quiet yesterday. Two anhingas were on the ground drying out their wings, and we saw two peacocks posing in front of a blue garage door, on our way in. God is good!

From Quiet Moments with God:

The Worry Tree


There was a man, who, at the end of each workday, would visit an old tree in his front yard before entering his home. As he passed the tree, he would reach out to gently touch the trunk and branches.

He did this so he could mentally "hang his troubles" on the branches so that he would not take them inside to his wife and children. He left his troubles with the assumption that if the problems were important, they would still be hanging there when he came out the next morning. But many mornings, he found they had disappeared.

Of course, hanging your troubles on the worry tree is not always easy.

In his book "Still Married, Still Sober," David Mackenzie describes another practical method for remembering to cast one's cares on God:

To act out the principle of turning prayers over to God, we took a paper bag, wrote "God" on it, and taped it up high on the back of our kitchen door. As I prayed about matters such as my career, my role as a father, my abilities to be a good husband, I would write down each concern on a piece of paper. Then those pieces of paper would go in the bag. The rule was that if you start worrying about a matter of prayer that you've turned over to God, you have to climb up on a chair and fish it out of the bag. I don't want to admit how much time I spent sifting through those scraps of paper."

Using God as your "Worry Tree" takes practice, but it's a skill worth developing. And your effort will be rewarded with the peace of knowing God is with you, ready to handle you're heavy load-if you will only let Him.

Worry is like a rocking chair.
It gives you something
to do, but doesn't get you
Bernard Meltzer


Love and hugs,