pandora, prayers, and people
There's something wonderfully enjoyable about the thumbs up and the thumbs
down on Pandora radio.
Oooh, LOVE this song.
Haven't heard this one in a while...for good reason.
Yes, please DO play this one often!
Nope. Never play that one again.
All I ever have to listen to are the melodies, tunes, and notes that bring
fall season warmth and springtime joy to my ears. I can weed out the Bon Jovis,
the Weezers and Sublimes, the Alanis Morisettes, and the old-time Bluegrass,
and really sink into the Andy McKees, the Chris Tomlins, the Frays, the Mat
Kearneys, and the Jim Brickmans and Yannis. I simply get to choose what rolls
into my ears, glides past my temporal lobe, and spirals around my cortex. I get
to decide what goes in and affects my day, my mood, my dinner party or summer
evening drive.
The bummer is that this option does not exist in the world of communication with others. I can't hang up on the lady who goes on and on about my mistake in the newspaper. I can't click "off" on the lady who has everything bad to say about everyone else. I can't click "dislike" on the news channel in the morning while I wait for the morning drive or weather report. There's no ‘thumbs down’ button for the people who say jobs are too hard to get, the economy is just too bad, the drought will never end, Mondays suck always, and people just aren't good anymore. I just can't look a person in the face and bop their nose when I'm ready to try the next track.
Thankfully, neither does our God. Just yesterday I told Him I didn't think I could do this job anymore. "If You want me here, I'll try...but I'd really love it if we could try something different," I said. "No good can come out of that person's mouth," I complained. "This heat is ridiculous," I moaned. "I'm too tired," I groaned.
I've finally learned—after years and years of reshaping my thoughts—that I can honestly take any and all of this to God. I can ask Him why and howcome, I can be angry and yell, and I can even let Him know that what He's doing doesn't make any sense. I am welcomed—even urged—to bring my concerns, complaints, angers, frustrations, sadness, joy, and gladness to His feet. It shows that I trust Him, I have hope in Him, and that I understand that He is in control.
It's interesting to me that I would choose counseling as a career to pursue, especially in light of the fact that people's complaints are really irking me today. However, I sense that I've got a heart like God's, a heart that He gave me, to listen to people's hurts, worries, and fears because I want to help them seek a better way of life, a new way of hope. It's the constant negativity to bring others down that feels like a waste of time to me.
I'm sure your complaints and worries aren't a waste of time to Him. YOU are not a waste of time to Him. But I do think it's best to take your complaints and worries to God with the heart that wants more, wants better. Go to God with a heart that is trusting and hoping, and He'll answer you in amazing ways. Focus your complaints on things above rather than down below where they'll be gratified for a short time, acknowledged for a moment. Take your complaints to a higher place in hopes of making this a better place.
Oooh, LOVE this song.
Haven't heard this one in a while...for good reason.
Yes, please DO play this one often!
Nope. Never play that one again.
All I ever have to listen to are the melodies, tunes, and notes that bring
fall season warmth and springtime joy to my ears. I can weed out the Bon Jovis,
the Weezers and Sublimes, the Alanis Morisettes, and the old-time Bluegrass,
and really sink into the Andy McKees, the Chris Tomlins, the Frays, the Mat
Kearneys, and the Jim Brickmans and Yannis. I simply get to choose what rolls
into my ears, glides past my temporal lobe, and spirals around my cortex. I get
to decide what goes in and affects my day, my mood, my dinner party or summer
evening drive.The bummer is that this option does not exist in the world of communication with others. I can't hang up on the lady who goes on and on about my mistake in the newspaper. I can't click "off" on the lady who has everything bad to say about everyone else. I can't click "dislike" on the news channel in the morning while I wait for the morning drive or weather report. There's no ‘thumbs down’ button for the people who say jobs are too hard to get, the economy is just too bad, the drought will never end, Mondays suck always, and people just aren't good anymore. I just can't look a person in the face and bop their nose when I'm ready to try the next track.
Thankfully, neither does our God. Just yesterday I told Him I didn't think I could do this job anymore. "If You want me here, I'll try...but I'd really love it if we could try something different," I said. "No good can come out of that person's mouth," I complained. "This heat is ridiculous," I moaned. "I'm too tired," I groaned.
I've finally learned—after years and years of reshaping my thoughts—that I can honestly take any and all of this to God. I can ask Him why and howcome, I can be angry and yell, and I can even let Him know that what He's doing doesn't make any sense. I am welcomed—even urged—to bring my concerns, complaints, angers, frustrations, sadness, joy, and gladness to His feet. It shows that I trust Him, I have hope in Him, and that I understand that He is in control.
It's interesting to me that I would choose counseling as a career to pursue, especially in light of the fact that people's complaints are really irking me today. However, I sense that I've got a heart like God's, a heart that He gave me, to listen to people's hurts, worries, and fears because I want to help them seek a better way of life, a new way of hope. It's the constant negativity to bring others down that feels like a waste of time to me.
I'm sure your complaints and worries aren't a waste of time to Him. YOU are not a waste of time to Him. But I do think it's best to take your complaints and worries to God with the heart that wants more, wants better. Go to God with a heart that is trusting and hoping, and He'll answer you in amazing ways. Focus your complaints on things above rather than down below where they'll be gratified for a short time, acknowledged for a moment. Take your complaints to a higher place in hopes of making this a better place.
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