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This week I am thrilled to share an article with you that my 17 year old son Joseph wrote. I pray that you are as blessed by it as I am! -- Shalom. Mike Imagination “What creates despair is the imagination, which...insists on predicting millions of moments, thousands of days, and so drains you that you cannot live the moment at hand.” -Andre Dubus The imagination is a powerful thing. Sometimes too powerful for us to handle if we don’t learn to control it, and it can stir up emotions that feel overwhelming. We must learn to concentrate on the moment and live in the moment to do anything with ourselves or accomplish anything. Those of us that worry about the future miss what is happening at the present. I am not saying to not plan for the future, it is wise to plan ahead, but do not live for the future. Those who dwell on the past will quickly be sucked into a spiral of despair. They regret something that they did, so they obsess on it. But concentrating on that thing only makes them mess up in the present, which gives them something else to despair about and it goes on and on. Focusing on the past or future is not going to be healthy either. Most likely if you are looking to the past or future it is because you are worried about an event that might occur or did occur. Constantly focusing on negative things is very depressing; eventually it creates a negative attitude that can lead to health problems. So, concentrate on the present and plan for the future. When something particularly good or bad happens, enjoy or grieve in the moment, but move on after it has passed. This will create a healthy, joyful attitude that is neither constantly happy nor sad. Both happiness and sadness have their place in our lives, but neither one is good for us if we are always in a state of one or the other. Always being sad leads to depression and anxiety, and always being happy leads to repressing emotions. If we always want to be happy, we stifle the sad emotions and keep them inside without letting them run their course. In the end this can lead to depression as well. The only person who can really be joyful and live in the moment is God. It is only through Him that we can ever live without despairing. He is the one to turn to when we get in one of those spirals and He will always be there to open our eyes and show us the right path. Verses for Reflection Therefore I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them; are you not much better than they are? Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin, but I say to you that even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much rather clothe you, little-faiths? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed? For the nations seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it. (Matthew 6:25-34 MKJV) My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him. (James 1:2-5 MKJV) |
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