I find it quite easy to worry. Quite easy. My mind has continual ‘conversations’ with people. I wish it only mulled over creative projects, or memory verses, or quotes from famous people, but, no, my mind has pointless conversations:
To the bank teller who didn’t want to deposit more than $30 of rolled coins, I say “This….is a bank. My kid is holding money. A bank takes deposits of money.“
“Please consider that you’ve placed your car outside a bedroom window,” I say to the neighbor who parks smack on the property line, when he has two driveways – and the street – to use.
My mind is busy with conversations. It bounces around between them, and goes beyond those smaller issues to more frustrating ones,
“Well, the facts are…” to the endless (!) number of social media posts that spread fear, not facts.
And on to more serious ones, family struggles where there is always so much to say, and where each conversation needs to include – even if it’s hard,
“I love you. Let’s work together on this.”
Isaiah 26:3 is written as, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.” The words perfect peace are translated from the Hebrew, shalom shalom. As we know, shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, so the writer emphasized peace twice. “Peace, peace.” Peace. Peace. An extra dose of peace.
I could use an extra dose of peace.
With the conversations in my mind comes …not perfect peace. Or any kind of peace. Just a mind that goes round and round, trying to fix problems, trying to mend relationships, trying trying trying….in my own strength. Which never gets me very far.
But when I focus on Scriptures, on God, on “the just, the pure the lovely,” my outlook on life improves. I can see clearly now. I can see that this world is not my home, I’m just passing through, as the old hymn says, and these things that I’m worrying over, these conversations in my mind, are not eternal. I cannot take them to Heaven; they will not help me or him or her get there, they’re just frustrations of this fallen world.
We can only think one thought at a time, I remind myself. So I’ll turn this thought on Thee, on Him, on God, on Jesus, and with this focus, I remember the beautiful things He’s placed in my world: the cardinal outside the window where I write, the child in the other room doing her homeschool work (I think?), the puppy outside the front door whining. My husband working so hard for us; the lone camellia bloom that persevered through an unusual coastal freeze last week. I could go on and on; the blessings are many, and they are much more easily remembered when I’m feeling the shalom shalom of focusing on Him.
Want a free printable of my Shalom Shalom handwriting above? Here you go!*
I hung my lettering printable in my office:
Want a free printable of my photograph above? Here you go!*
It should print as a 300dpi (dots per inch — high quality) print that fits 8-1/2 x 11″ . I had Photoshop size & prepare it for me, so I hope/think it will work as well for you as it did for me. I took the photo in a place we call “the field” up the road from our house. It has been our family’s walking park for many years; we’re super sad that a subdivision is developing there (another reason for needing Isaiah 26:3 in my mind!) .
I placed the above lettering on the photo. My copy is framed and on our bedroom wall as a reminder to me when I nod off to sleep at night. Without reminders, I forget so very easily.
*There are no catches — not even a newsletter signup! But don’t sell the designs, please, and if you share them, please include a link to this post. Thank you so much! — Lori Seaborg
Leave a Reply