I moved into my first apartment alone, and was terrified. It was a studio apartment, I was living paycheck to paycheck in northern Illinois. I found Vacation Village, the "VVA," which had a guard and a fence. Despite the mocking I received (I know that anyone could jump the fence, and I could probably run faster than the guard on his golf cart) but it was a comfort to me knowing they were there. Guarding. 24-7.
I had a sliding glass door as my front door, and with it the apartment came a trusty stick used to help "lock" the door. The first months I lived in my apartment, I would walk in, pick up the stick and check all possible hiding spots in my apartment, and only then could I rest easy. Since it was a studio apartment, and I hardly had any furniture, there were really only two places a person could hide: the bathtub, and the oven (for those contortionist intruders out there). Should I have ever catch anyone, the plan was to bash the person on the head with the stick, and make it out the front door...... Fortunately, I never had to carry out my fool proof plan. No one broke in. No one ever was found hiding in my oven. Quickly I learned to love living on my own. Aside from a few weeks, the love has continued.
My Mum has never been one to allow me to bemoan (bewail - mourn - lament - deplore - moan - weep - wail) what was about to happen. Why? Because we don't know what is going to happen. I spent a lot of those first months in my studio, gated, guarded apartment, worrying, anxious, not sleeping. I would wake up and stay up for hours. I would turn on lights. Watch TV. Play music. Why? Because of what might happen. What if someone wanted my $10 dollar tv stand/storage container? What if someone spotted my fantastic red Friday shoes (Yes for a while I had shoes I would wear on Friday) and they decided they had to have them? I borrowed trouble. I counted my chickens. I lost sleep, gained a twitch, and looked ridiculous taking a packed suitcase with me to work every day. (I didn't actually do that.)
It has been a difficult year, and at the same time full, FULL, of happiness, and delight. Good times, visits (and food- usually always food (sigh)). I have been worried. I do worry. I worry about my Daddy. I worry about my brother. I worry about my best friends. I want them around forever and ever. I want them to be with me. Guess what? They are here NOW. I have them today. (Actually unless they are hiding in my basement, they are all (family and friends) technically at home sleeping.) I do not want to miss one second of time with them, whether it is in person, on the phone, via email. It is for this reason, that while all day long I have been worried, and anxious, and had a backache, and a headache, that the moment, the few moments ago that I prayed and said, "Oh God, please help me..." that I now have peace. No backache. No headache. I have peace. I will not borrow trouble tonight. And you can take that to the bank, Jack.
Psalm 91:1-5Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
I had a sliding glass door as my front door, and with it the apartment came a trusty stick used to help "lock" the door. The first months I lived in my apartment, I would walk in, pick up the stick and check all possible hiding spots in my apartment, and only then could I rest easy. Since it was a studio apartment, and I hardly had any furniture, there were really only two places a person could hide: the bathtub, and the oven (for those contortionist intruders out there). Should I have ever catch anyone, the plan was to bash the person on the head with the stick, and make it out the front door...... Fortunately, I never had to carry out my fool proof plan. No one broke in. No one ever was found hiding in my oven. Quickly I learned to love living on my own. Aside from a few weeks, the love has continued.
My Mama has always said to me, "Stephanie, don't count your chickens!" I've never had chickens. Ever. (I did have a goldfish for a week and a cat for years, but never chickens.) But I knew what she was saying. Okay, so the girl in the story was planning on living a life of luxury; I was gearing up for the worst possible outcome. Either way you look at it, planning and depending on an outcome going one way or the other can hamper what you do today.
My Mum has never been one to allow me to bemoan (bewail - mourn - lament - deplore - moan - weep - wail) what was about to happen. Why? Because we don't know what is going to happen. I spent a lot of those first months in my studio, gated, guarded apartment, worrying, anxious, not sleeping. I would wake up and stay up for hours. I would turn on lights. Watch TV. Play music. Why? Because of what might happen. What if someone wanted my $10 dollar tv stand/storage container? What if someone spotted my fantastic red Friday shoes (Yes for a while I had shoes I would wear on Friday) and they decided they had to have them? I borrowed trouble. I counted my chickens. I lost sleep, gained a twitch, and looked ridiculous taking a packed suitcase with me to work every day. (I didn't actually do that.)
I do like making plans. Not that you can currently tell, but I also like organization. I like straight lines and a lot of direction. Knowing what will happen the next day has always brought satisfaction. Trouble is I live. I live. In a world where there are other humans, only too eager to muck up my plans. Generally, for the most part, that just has meant that things have gone even better than I planned. A drive in the middle of the night to Southern Indiana (through cornfields) was more enjoyable than I could have ever imagined because people were involved.
But... things happen. Other things that cause unhappy muckiness. It is during those times that the muck literally tries to grab a hold of my legs, and pull me down and drown and suffocate me. The only way it has come close to being able to do that is because I get a little to close to the muck. Actually I make it. "What if after I'm at school, wearing the sweatshirt I made a few weeks prior, I bend over a candle too far and end up with a head aflame and lose half my hair? What then?"
Wait. That really happened.
Trying again.
What if tomorrow I'm in a car accident and lose both my legs, and my right eye? I'll just stay home. I will never drive again. What if tonight, a flaming ember from a backyard bonfire 2 blocks away lands on my roof, and starts Pearl (my house) on fire? I'd better not sleep. What if, while I'm taking a walk in my neighborhood, I trip on a rock and fall, and scrape my knee in front of a bunch of neighbor kids? (This remarkably has not happened.) I'd better not walk.
Wait. That really happened.
Trying again.
What if tomorrow I'm in a car accident and lose both my legs, and my right eye? I'll just stay home. I will never drive again. What if tonight, a flaming ember from a backyard bonfire 2 blocks away lands on my roof, and starts Pearl (my house) on fire? I'd better not sleep. What if, while I'm taking a walk in my neighborhood, I trip on a rock and fall, and scrape my knee in front of a bunch of neighbor kids? (This remarkably has not happened.) I'd better not walk.
After all that, I'm not leaving home, not sleeping, not even walking. In that case I would say I just counted my chickens, and my chickens wound up dead. The truth is, whatever phrase you want to use, when you, me, we try to predict what is going to happen we hinder ourselves from being able to live and enjoy today. Tomorrow has the potential to be disastrous. We- all of us- have lived in those days. We have had "tomorrows" that shook us back into yesterday. Those days will come. What I cannot do is refuse to live for fear of what may be. Or what may not be.
I have to trust. Trust in God. Trust that He will be with me, walk with me, stay with me. Even when times are tough, or ugly, or really really funny.
It has been a difficult year, and at the same time full, FULL, of happiness, and delight. Good times, visits (and food- usually always food (sigh)). I have been worried. I do worry. I worry about my Daddy. I worry about my brother. I worry about my best friends. I want them around forever and ever. I want them to be with me. Guess what? They are here NOW. I have them today. (Actually unless they are hiding in my basement, they are all (family and friends) technically at home sleeping.) I do not want to miss one second of time with them, whether it is in person, on the phone, via email. It is for this reason, that while all day long I have been worried, and anxious, and had a backache, and a headache, that the moment, the few moments ago that I prayed and said, "Oh God, please help me..." that I now have peace. No backache. No headache. I have peace. I will not borrow trouble tonight. And you can take that to the bank, Jack.
And just so we're clear, even if something should happen, God will grant His peace just as freely; I just have to ask.
Psalm 91:1-5Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare, and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day.
nor the arrow that flies by day.
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