Yin and Yang

My wife was written a blog about some storms that came over our house the other day. She has had terrible experiences in the past with storms. She has been in multiple tornados. Once when in Atlanta at Six Flags a tornado hit the theme park parking lot as they were walking to their cars. They made it out OK with minor injuries to her family. Nonetheless, she has every reason to be wary of storms in general whether there is tornado activity or not. In her blog she mentions her fears and how during the storm the other day my son actually dozed in her arms as they were sheltered in our hall bathroom. My son's apathy towards the storm gave Sara a mental picture of how God holds all his children in his arms and protects them. Because of this we should have nothing to worry about, right? Well, here is a prime example where a lot of us listen to the word of God and acknowledge it but do not let His word rule our lives. We should trust all to God and know that whatever comes our way, no matter the situation, God will turn our hardships into something that turns out to be beneficial to us. Imagine that you are in the middle of a crisis or foresee an upcoming crisis. You could, and should, go through the many different possible scenarios and determine which scenarios are the worst. Typically, you will then attempt to alter the situation as to minimize the damage. Once this is done, you could take one of two paths. The first path is one where you worry about your decisions, struggle internally about the what-ifs you may have missed, etc… The other path is one where you accept your analysis and reaction to the upcoming events and you let the proverbial chips fall where they may. In all reality, you will balance the two paths during the situation. The yin and the yang of these two approaches will ensure that we maintain safety as well as mental stability. The problem is when we allow one situation to rule completely over the other. God tells us not to worry and to fear nothing. But, he also sent John the Babtist to prepare the way for Christ. How can God not worry yet send someone to prepare for a future event? In reality, he is telling us to prepare, but don’t worry about it. It is a very hard balancing act to follow. My philosophy is that when you have done your best you have done all you can. I struggle with attempting to find better ways to do things. One may call it worry; I call it trying to find a better solution, I am a scientist... But, in the end, I try to give all my worries to God and know that all will come out to the benefit of the Kingdom and I will become a stronger person by going through those trials. Now, I will admit, this may be a little self serving. Am I as a person ignoring difficulties because I want something good out of it? No, we should embrace hardships because that is exactly what He wants us to do. God wants us to be better people. In everything. He wants us to prevail in all of our everyday tasks. Whether it is the most menial job or the most important job in the world. That means home life with your family, life at your job, interactions with others you don’t know, church life and your own spiritual life. I have been told before that sometimes you have to humble yourself such that you can allow someone else to be a blessing in your life. We are all out there trying to pour our lives into others in order to help them. Do not take away someone else’s opportunity to bless you. This also applies to God's blessings. He wants us to accept his blessings as if they are gifts from a Father and you are a young child with no misgivings over accepting His blessings. By doing so we not only are abiding in God’s word, but you are also going to improve many other aspects of your life. Less worry means fewer health problems. It allows you to focus on things that actually matter in this world; those things God has asked us to do. Do not be afraid to accept God’s blessings. You may not like how they come, but they still come, and they are still God’s blessings!