Do you ever have a week, a day, or even a month where it seems you are up against everything? Now, to be clear, I’m not talking about facing true tragedies like the loss of a loved one, a job, or a serious illness. Those are truly experiences in which our lives will be inundated with struggle. No, I’m talking about the days in which it just seems all the little things are piling up, you just want to crawl back into bed and wait for the next day to come.
I hate to break it to you, but even if you were to go back to bed, those issues would still be facing you in the morning light of the next day. Life is inescapable my friends, it will happen whether we like it or not. Small problems are going to arise every day, and if our focus becomes solely on those small issues, then our general attitude will become despair and negativity. We will become walking zombies of worry, doomed to wander this world with the shuffling woe and moan of the pessimistic.
I know this to be true because I fall victim to it myself. As a Pastor, I don’t ever have to look far to find issues in the church or in the community. There is ALWAYS hunger to feed, there is ALWAYS the lost to be found, there are NEVER enough children in the nursery, or NEVER enough young people in the pews. Money is ALWAYS tight, the church building ALWAYS needs updating, and my hairline is ALWAYS receding!
But do you know what else is happening all around me as well? Someone is ALWAYS having their life impacted by Christ’s message, a child is ALWAYS growing in their faith, and people are ALWAYS being ministered and missioned to by our church. Laughter is ALWAYS abundant, prayer is ALWAYS being lifted, and the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS on the move. Most importantly I am constantly reminded of Christ’s redeeming love through the people and ministry in which I serve.
Perhaps we lie in a grave of our own digging in these days of despair. We simply become overwhelmed with the constant dirt of the world that eventually covers us like a weighted blanket. We need some resurrection from that grave, and it comes directly from focusing our perspective upon Jesus! Our Savior said these beautiful words to us in the Gospel of Matthew, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”
Christ our Lord rose from the grave that we may not throw ourselves into that same pit! When the little despairs of life begin to overshadow your perspective, then refocus your eyes on what Jesus is doing in your life. I promise that he will make his presence known!
Put down that grave digger’s shovel, and lift up that walking stick! Go out and take a walk with Jesus today, away from that graveyard. I know Jesus is waiting to walk with you as well!
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Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston TX
