Tonight - to my surprise - the Twins spring training game is on the radio. And I must apologize to my dogs as I postponed their walk when I found out so that I could enjoy the game. I suppose a baseball game on the radio should not take precedence over a walk with my girls but tonight it did. Twins games on the radio are one of those simple pleasures in life.
I enjoy baseball. Played it in my youth and was usually the only girl on the team. I would not call myself a die hard fan but if the timing is right and the game is on the radio - I will take the time to listen. Two years ago, my husband built a deck on the front of our house. It quickly became our summer evening retreat - to visit with neighbors, to catch up on the day, to just sit and relax as the kids played outside. With a change in his work schedule, it became my retreat. I spent many evenings last summer, by myself, just listening to the Twins game and debriefing my day with myself.
As I would sit, I would think - I tend to do that a lot - maybe too much sometimes - but this is one way I feel that God gets through to me. I wondered what it was about baseball on the radio that brought me so much peace. And I remembered my childhood. How carefree life was. We always had food on the table, clean clothes, parents that loved us, friends a plenty to play with and Twins games on the radio. We spent our summer days just playing - anything and everything. Not a worry among us - except perhaps who got to be which Charlie's Angel or which Duke boy we would marry! How can you not experience peace when you have nothing to stress over?? It makes perfect sense to me - too bad I didn't realize back then how good I had it!
As the mom of two children and having a husband working nights, I find I have more worries that I ever thought I would have. Part of that is inheriting the Worry gene from my Grandma T. But as a Christian, I have been taught not to worry - which sometimes is a lot easier said than done. In Philippians 4:6, we are
commanded, “Do not be anxious [do not worry] about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Have you ever tried to make a conscious effort not to worry? To stop the minute you feel the worry start and give it to God? Give it a try. I find it is something that I struggle to do on a regular basis - mostly because I am who I am (or at least who I think I am) and I want to fix everything on my own.
But there are things I can't fix - I know that I can't heal anyones cancer, or make the perfect job appear for a friend out of work, or take away someone else's anxieties and fears. And when I began my workout journey, I felt that I couldn't fix me. What would be different with this attempt to lose weight that would enable me to be successful? How would I overcome my fear of having a heart attack or stroke while working out? How would I be able to stick with any part of it?
Well God knew how to fix me. But it wasn't an overnight fix. It took me months to realize that just because my heart rate hit a certain number, I wasn't going to keel over and die. It took the support of my NEW buddy to keep me committed to visiting the health club for the whole week and to keep it up to get my insurance reimbursement. And it took God working in me to get me to give my worries to Him and to realize that I can't do it on my own and that I don't have to. And to my amazement - it is working. Although I will honestly call myself a work in progress!
Part of God working in me to give up my worries is my ability to feel less stress and to take time to enjoy simple pleasures. So that brings us back to the Twins game on the radio tonight. Prayers were sent up earlier today and along with them went my worries. And now I am able to sit back and enjoy the simple pleasure of listening to the Twins game and know that God is taking care of things for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment