Transformational Thought
In my teenage years, I enjoyed had many outward successes in sports, academics, and with peers. But inside, unfortunately, peace was often elusive, and I really struggled inside, as I felt out of control on many occasions. One of my favorite and frequent activities was sitting down and making a plan for the next 5 years of my life, one year at a time.
This planning behavior, this “soothing activity,” was my attempt to act out the false belief that an orderly life on the outside would bring order on the inside of my heart. Also, with all that ordering of my outside world, my future, my path, I thought I could plan my way to peace.
It took me a while to learn this important truth about the brain, and it wasn’t in undergrad as a biomedical engineer, or medical school, or in psychiatry training. The Bible actually taught me that God did not design the human mind to figure out the future, for this is clearly beyond our capability.
He crafted our minds for continual communication with Him. You will not find peace by engaging in excessive planning and “doing”, with futile attempts to control what will happen to you in the future. This is not the path to peace. Excessive planning and doing is actually a often practiced form of unbelief.
Today, bring all your needs, your hopes and your fears to Your Lord and God. Commit everything into His care. When uneasy, instead of planning, stop, look around at creation and your life and enjoy the moment…bask in God’s blessings, love, and amazing grace. Remember He promises to comfort you and bring a peace. Look in the right places for it because it is there. Turn from the path of planning and doing to the path of peace.
Prayer
Dear Father God, My mind spins with multiple plans. I spend so much time planning because I think it is the pathway to peace. And just when peace appears to be within my reach, it somehow eludes me. Just when I think I have prepared for all possibilities, covered all my bases, a meteor strikes my life and pushes peace once again beyond my grasp and throws me into another state of confusion. Help me, Father, to stop this wasted effort. I bring to You today all my issues, needs, and insecurities…I release them into Your care. For I know this is the true pathway to peace. Help me, Father, to find the next step, and the next, on this pathway of Stepping Stones. I pray to You Father in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say – AMEN!
The Truth
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalm 37:5-7