Yesterday turned into a much longer day than I thought it would be. We left Virginia around 8:45am and didn’t get to Ithaca until about 6:30pm. And nothing here is even hinting of spring! It’s very cold and there are flurries in the air this morning. I’m sure it will warm up a bit but we are really far up into the northern part of New York. When we checked into the hotel, I asked the hotel clerk when spring arrives in Ithaca. She just laughed. I guess when you experience the cold like this, spring and summer take on a much greater appreciation.
I’m learning that contentment/happiness is all in how you look at things. It’s all a matter of my attitude. I have so much for which to be thankful that to complain about a little cold weather would be ridiculous! The truth is, even life on the road, is pretty much a life of routine – not so different from everyone else. None of us should take our everyday “normal” lives for granted, whatever “normal” might be for you. The way I see it, every new sunrise is a gift from God, a day to celebrate Him and revel in His goodness to me. With all the uncertainties in our lives, it’s easy to get caught up in worrying about the details – big and little ones! It’s comforting for me to know that my faith gives me assurance that God is also concerned about those details. My life of faith is not about understanding and reason. Faith is grounded in the knowledge of a Person and the trust that we place in Their character.
I guess no one can put this more succinctly that the author of the book of Philippians (chapter 4, verses 6-7) in the Bible. These are great verses for me today:
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worry, let God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happenes when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Those verses don’t promise that everything will be perfect or even turn out the way we expect. They promise that everything will come together FOR our good, and that may include some challenges along the way.
Today, there was a sunrise so it’s a good day to celebrate.