The mess was driving me crazy.
Activity after activity had piled up in my life, and I hadn’t put away stuff in-between each event. I was preparing for Vacation Bible School, Bible camp, summer travels, along with putting
away holiday items. Yea, I was really behind. Boxes had lined my halls and were stacked behind my couch for months.
Boxes to go to the thrift store.
Boxes to go into the attic.
Boxes to go back to the church.
Boxes to go in the garage.
My house was a dump and it was driving me crazy.
Each box needed to be sorted, organized, and the supplies restocked in preparation for next year’s event, so I couldn’t just shove them away. Until I had time to properly deal with the boxes, I had to leave them.
As I explained my exasperation to my friend Ruth, and she smiled and said, “Just look up!"
I’m a little slow on the uptake, and was confused.
She clarified. “When you’re walking down the hallway, just look up. Don’t look at the mess.”
It seemed too simple to be useful, but it worked. When I didn’t look at the boxes and dwell on them, they didn’t bother me. Eventually, all the boxes were sorted and put away. I walked down the empty hallway with relief and thankfulness.
Now my life is the cluttered hallway. I have boxes of burdens that drive me crazy. There is an Innocent Man in jail who calls me weekly, grieves over his situation, but tries to stand firm in the Lord. I’ve learned how to buy him toothpaste, sox, shoes and stamps and anything else he needs to survive inside concrete walls and iron bars. He has diabetes and has almost died in prison because a guard was sleeping while he was in a diabetic coma.
The artificial thyroid hormone I’d been on for 9 years was recalled, and I am going through the changes to adjust to my new medication. When you say “woman” and “hormone” in the same sentence everybody wants to run. I have friends with broken hearts and friends with broken bodies l and I can’t do anything to change or relieve the situations. The boxes will be sorted through and put away in the Lord’s timing, not my own.
Ruth’s advice has been murmuring through my soul.
“Look up, Mindy, look up!”
Many clichés about depression or discouragement have a downward motion.
“Down in the dumps.”
“Head hanging low.”
“Down in the mouth.”
“On a downer.”
“In the pits.”
“In the dumps.”
“I’m feeling low.”
The words continue – crestfallen, down and out, downcast, downhearted, low-down, low-spirited, shot down – did I miss any? The burdens and trial of this life drag down our bodies physically, mentally and spiritually. Life is hard.
Looking up at the Lord doesn’t make your problems go away, it just makes it more tolerable to look down again. Look up and hand Him those boxes, and trust Him with the contents. The Lord Jesus is called “the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He understands and is able to handle our boxes of burdens. He will unpack them and put the contents away in His way and in His timing.
“Just look up!”
Good timing. :o)
Praise the Lord!
Thank you for the reminder to pray for your beloved innocent man. I pray God will keep sustaining him during this time and for you all, too, have to watch him suffer in that horrible place. All my love!
Jackie, thank you for your love and your prayers. I COULD NOT have walked this path alone, neither could our beloved Innocent Man. Thank you for praying. I will get to see him this summer. Will be painfully wonderful. Please continue to pray for his protection.
This was timely as I guess I needed to read this!! Thanks Mindy!!
Have been thinking about you much and praying for you! Thanks for stopping by.
Dear mindy
How timely is your post! I sure need it at this moment. We are out of town at this moment and will email you when we come back. Sorry to hear about your struggles. I will be praying for you too! Love, Ruth
Thank you for the inspiration you shared that day, Ruth. As you can see, your wisdom has carried me through much more than you ever thought. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Wonderful perspective 🙂 life sure does change on us, but Jesus never does 🙂
What a great exclamation point to add, Alyssa, that He never changes. It made me think about Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”
Oh Mindy, you have no idea how much I needed this post. Life is so hard. And each day continues to bring more pain and loss. Thank you for sharing truth and reminding me to look up.
Linda, thank you for letting me know that you need prayer. Funny how it seems that when you view everyone’s life through an occasional blog post, you might not know how much their heart is breaking. I just thought of Psalm 3:3,”But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” We even need His help to look up to Him for help! May you feel the burning love of His sustaining power in your life. Blessings to you, my sweet bloggy friend.
I really love your blogs. I don’t see myself as a religious person but I find you don’t need to be to gain something from your writing. Thought provoking, thank you.
Maddi
lifeasmaddi.wordpress.com
You couldn’t have paid me a better compliment. Thank you so much for your kind comment today. If I can encourage anyone with the help the Lord has given me, I’m very happy. May your life be blessed.
Wow! I really appreciate this! There has been so much going on these days, and there are burdens everywhere. I loved the encouragement to look up. Life is hard, but He will handle it, and everything changes when we look to Him. Thanks a lot for writing this!
Thank the Lord, He gave me the encouragement I needed to survive my own life. 🙂 I just pass on what He’s given to me. I’ll be praying for you. Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement.