Reflections by Chuck Cluff, Atherton resident since 2004
Passage: Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep me in perfect peace as my mind is focused on you.”
We can take the tedium of life if interspersed with moments of satisfaction. Everyone needs times when they feel relaxed and content when for a few peaceful minutes life is OK. Without these we burn out, we mentally and emotionally collapse, or feel like we might. And, you can feel overcome with everything, even while sitting in your front room. Just the mind can do this to us; it’s called worry.
Overload comes from many directions; too busy, too many problems all at once, too many demands from others, things not going well within our nuclear or extended families, and at our age as seniors, struggling with the problems of health, or not having anything to do. Doesn’t that sound like an oxymoron: being stressed out from nothing to do? Think of the many times over the years we yearned for a break from activity and responsibility. A change of pace in another place often helps; even just going to sit somewhere else when reading the newspaper or a book, somewhere other than your own home; like a library, lounge or park bench.
A different location is like a short timeshare experience. Even if just for a couple of hours. These occasional times of pleasure help us remember the hard times are worth it. Each one of us is challenged to discover what venue is the place for these extra special mental, emotional and physical getaways. If we think of prayer or meditation as those opportunities, sporadically going somewhere else for that time makes it just a little different. God keeping us in perfect peace, with our minds stayed on him, involves consciously bringing him into everything we do. But there is a little bit more of God we seem to feel in these moments of satisfaction as we trust him to eventually take care of everything.
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