A few years ago, around this time of year, I would be waiting for my son to arrive home from University, and getting very excited. We would be very much looking forward to seeing him. And hugging him, and feeding him, and even doing his washing! But he was at a university three hours away, had his own car, and would be driving himself home.
WORRYING THOUGHTS
Now I have to admit I could very easily have allowed myself to worry about that. The thoughts coming into my head might have gone something like this. The roads are going to busy. He won’t have slept much in the last few days,. Will he be careful and keep his concentration? He hasn’t driven a long way for a couple of months. The car isn’t particularly reliable; he won’t have checked the oil, water or tyres. He’ll drive too fast… I have to admit those were all thoughts that warred for attention in this poor mother’s mind.
If I had allowed those thoughts to settle and dwelt on them, then very quickly the excitement, anticipation and joy that I was feeling about welcoming my son home, would have been overshadowed with fear and anxiety. My wait would have been spoilt.
CHOOSE OUR THOUGHTS
We actually have a choice to decide what thoughts we meditate on and which we choose not to. This is a very important principle for every day of our lives but is especially important when we are waiting for God to fulfil His promises. That waiting period can be hard and there might be many valid negative thoughts we can allow to fill our minds. Does God really care? Will He keep His promises? What if He doesn’t? How much longer must I wait? Does He hear my prayers?
Phil 4 v 8 tells us to fill our minds with much more positive and life giving thoughts.
So, rather than let fearful and anxious thoughts dominate our thinking we can choose instead to keep our minds busy with thinking about good, lovely, positive things. Reading scripture, listening to worship music, talking to an encouraging friend, can all help us re-align our thoughts when we feel overwhelmed by negativity.
THINK ON GOOD THINGS
My son has long flown the nest, but he still comes home for Christmas, and I will probably still be tempted to worry about him driving over. But I hope that my thoughts about his homecoming will be much more along the lines of how amazing it will be to see him, how we will enjoy his company over Christmas, and the fun we will all have together. And perhaps most importantly, my thoughts will dwell on how good God continues to be to us, and just how much He loves and cares for us all. My son included
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Joy Margetts is new to blogging, and new to being published. Her debut novel ‘The Healing‘ was published by Instant Apostle on 19 March 2021. A work of historic fiction, set in medieval Wales against the backdrop of Cistercian abbey life, it is also a story of faith, hope and God’s redemptive power. Joy has also self- published a short novella, ‘The Beloved‘ as both a companion to ‘The Healing‘, and as an easy to read standalone story, which is available to buy on Amazon Kindle.
‘The Pilgrim‘, her second full length novel, will be published by Instant Apostle in July 2022
More information on Joy and her writing, and links to purchase her books can be found here www.joymargetts.com