Seeds
I’ve read the story of the sower and the seed probably hundreds of times in my walk with the Lord. I’ve heard great teachings on those scriptures as well, but the other day I was driving along brooding over something. You know what I mean, running it over and over again in my mind. Searching for an answer to a problem “I” needed to fix. I’d just come home from an incredible week at the Southwest Believers Conference, and I was full of the Word and full of faith. I was determined to hold onto the words or seeds that had been planted. Seeds will grow and produce something either positive or negative. We have to be determined not to uproot them or forget to guard them.
I’m not a worrier but when I feel that it’s my responsibility to figure something out it can result in what I call brooding over something. We have two beautiful border collies, Rocky and Molly, and almost every day they would hike with us on our property when we lived in Colorado. Every chance Rocky got he would find the biggest log he could and he would drag it, push it, pounce on it, pick it up and carry it until he was worn out. We deemed that Rocky was “worrying” it. For him it was a game, and it was fun but when I handle something like that in my mind it has no good result. The picture of him doing that is etched in my mind because it was so fun to watch. But, the mental gymnastics of doing that aren’t cute at all. Brooding over an issue is allowing the cares of this world to do exactly what the Word talks about in Matthew 13:22, because they are distractions. This was a small issue that was nagging at me running freely around in my brain causing me to be stressed. Our faith will always suffer when we worry. No matter how wonderful the seed planted in our hearts is, when we allow the distractions of the world to consume our thoughts, our faith will diminish.
We are in charge of our thinking. There are many scriptures about renewing our minds and I’ve worked hard at doing that. So, I chose to stop the thoughts and I reminded myself that God is good and that He is a promise keeper. We’re told in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast our care because He cares for us. Cast in that verse literally means to throw it over. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I’m not going to figure out the answers to the stuff I’m brooding over. But, if I’ll cast the care and trust the Lord with the issue, He’ll always give me an answer and show me the way through. I’m determined to live by faith and it’s common to slip in and out of faith depending on what’s happening in our lives. Faith is something we have to maintain in our hearts constantly.
I guess I’ve always thought of the distractions of the world as something else, big things and big problems. The truth hit me, that these little things that we make into big things are also nothing but distractions. The Lord cares and will always grant us wisdom if we ask.
Doesn’t that sound easier, and more peaceful than worrying?
