The cares of this world....

I tend to carry baggage around with me. If you've read back at all on my blog then you know I pack my bags full of stuff and carry it around with me like I want it right there with me - just in case I need it.

I was looking at the picture of the sea snail I posted and just amazed that we could find that kind of life just a few feet from the beach in the shallows off of Destin Beach. Of course I am from the Gulf Coast - it's where I grew up so the Deep Water Horizon disaster has caused me much concern for the beaches and the life that we see there in the Gulf.

Of course we are in the midst of all star baseball and it is full of things I have packed to worry about: sponsors, kids being over-tired, not getting to enjoy our summer (in our usual manner), one child feeling left out, finding time in between to do the things with my business, all of these cause a whole mess of worries I pull out and mull over and over and over.

I find myself wanting to be more like Scarlet O'Hara and telling myself I cannot possibly worry about all of that "stuff" today - I'll worry about it tomorrow. I have always felt she was foolish and she would be the last person I would pick - yet in this one thing - I envy her.

Fact is, and I have struggled with this for quite some time, every day is full of cares and not just the mundane everyday things. Sometimes they are much too big to even see your way around. We found this out last year, when I kept telling myself that my husband's job would be fine. It wasn't. He lost it. And I thought my world was coming to an end.


It didn't.


We made it.


It really was alright.


And I was blessed in knowing that the world would not end. I thought that losing his job was the worst thing (other than things I will not speak out loud) that could happen to me. Truly - it was not. The knowledge was freeing.

I learned something else. To learn to live today. I learned not to worry about tomorrow - because the Bible tells us we aren't supposed to.

Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Amen, amen.

Realizing something you thought would end your life as you know it, really will not end it - and that life as you knew it might not have been that great to begin with - well - it is absolutely liberating. The way we look at things can make or break a day. Life does go on. How we handle the ick is what we leave our children in visible lessons, once it really is time for our life to end. How we deal with our daily burdens will be passed on to our kids and if we deal with them well - they will know how to deal with the ick well when they have to. This is quite a good thing to leave your children.

So really - the cares of this world are promised to us...we can count on them.
But it doesn't mean that this life is worthless. It actually frees us from being weighed down or surprised when something bad actually happens. It's freeing.

John 16:33
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

I love the idea of freedom. It is something I am very unfamiliar with. I am a bound woman. I must work harder at leaving all of that baggage behind.

I think Scarlet might not have been as stupid as I tend to think she was.

I will be hashing this out more in days to come.