But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. 2 Timothy 3:14
What a time to be alive!
I have a playlist of music on my phone that I entitled, “The Whole World’s Gone Mad.” That sentiment pretty much sums up my outlook on life these days. On every level, it just seems right now that life is difficult and confusing and uncertain. In the midst of this, it feels that I have lost all ability to cope. Happenings that might formerly have incited nothing more than an eye roll from me now send me reeling, or collapsing into a puddle of tears. This is not normal!
It’s incredibly frustrating – and a bit embarrassing – for someone who is generally pretty calm and level-headed to find herself anything but! But that is the condition in which I find myself.
Confusion can be crippling at times. Frozen in time and space, it is hard to know which direction to go.
I am reminded of an incident from my youth…
I was in Orlando, Florida for the state French competition with some of my high school classmates. We had a little free time, and a bit of freedom, so we decided to walk down the street from our motel to get something to eat. We spotted an Arby’s, but unfortunately, we needed to cross four lanes of traffic in order to get there. So we watched and we waited, and soon opportunity presented itself for us to cross safely. We enjoyed a meal, and then it was time to head back. Unfortunately, it was getting into rush hour, and clearance to cross was not as readily available as it had been earlier. So again we watched and we waited, but never found an opening to cross all four lanes. So we decided to try to cross two lanes at a time. There was no median, so we made our way to the center stripe. We paused there for a moment, then my friends saw an opening and ran on across. I froze. For what seemed like an eternity, I remained stuck right in the middle of crazy scary Orlando traffic. I didn’t know whether to go forward or turn back. I honestly don’t remember getting off that stripe in the road at all, but clearly I did!
Frozen. Confused. Lacking direction in a world that’s gone mad.
The apostle Paul had warned Timothy that difficult days would come. And he told Timothy what to do when those days came – keep doing what you know to do.
So here I am again. I’ve been here before, honestly. Going through the motions. Doing what I know I’m supposed to be doing, even though I don’t necessarily feel like it. It’s not fun. At times, it just feels wrong. I feel like a hypocrite.
But I will not stop. I will continue in what I have learned and believed. Feelings aside, it is never wrong to do the right thing.
When I feel like doing nothing, I need to just do what I know is right. I cannot stay frozen on the center line – that’s just not safe. So even if it’s hard, or scary, or drives me to frustration and tears, I just have to stick with what I know.
And what I know is that my God is good.
I know a lot of other things, too, but I think this is the one I most need to remember in this season.
There are a lot of things happening around me that are NOT good. There are things happening in my job, my country, and my world that are definitely NOT good. But my God is good.
So those “not-good” things that lately plague my thoughts and rob me of my joy and energy must look a little different from the perspective of my God. He is good. He does good. He wants good for me. He is working things for my good.
So I will keep doing what I know to do. I will keep getting up in the morning. I will keep spending time in the Word. I will keep talking to my Maker. I will keep loving those around me. These are things I know to do.
There are a lot of things I don’t know right now.
But I know that my God is good.
And I trust Him.
And for now, that is enough.
…Just a thought…
