This is the first
installment of a series of posts entitled The Journey.
When the people of Israel escaped their slave existence in
Egypt, their challenges had just begun. There had been 70 people who initially
travelled to Egypt to escape the ravages of a seven year long famine. Those
were the sons of the man Israel (Jacob) and their families. Now after four
hundred years of slavery, the nation that bore Israel’s name were numbered at
well over a million. Imagine a million slaves stumbling into the desert with no
clear destination! The plan for what was to happen next wasn’t very
clear. What was clear was that there was no plan B. The only thing behind them
was the Red Sea and thousands of dead Egyptian soldiers. The only options available to them were Moses, the road ahead, and a God they thought had forgotten them. Where do you
begin when everything you have ever known has been swept away? How do you move
forward to a future than isn’t clear at all?
Those questions sound pretty familiar don't they?
Our present
is spent up a moment at a time. Each moment gets shoved back into the past whether we are ready to
let it go or not. Our past is a collection of successes and failures, laughter
and tears, and while there is encouragement to be had and lessons to be learned
by looking at our past, just like the people of Israel, going back to live
there isn’t really an option. So, what do we do? We plod forward into our own deserts, toward
a future that often seems unclear and just out of reach. How do we survive
those days of doubt and uncertainty? What do you do when you don’t know what to
do?
The first step in any journey is to make sure that you are
thinking productive thoughts. The thoughts we think drive everything we do and everything we feel. The very first step in
dealing with our thoughts is to focus on what we have and not on whatever it is
that we don’t currently have. For the people
of Israel this meant forgetting the predictability they had in Egypt. It also
meant that it was not going to be helpful to obsess over the fact that they didn’t
really know where they were going. There was no use in worrying about the
desert terrain or anything else they couldn’t predict or control. Their journey
started with focusing on what they did have, freedom (after 400 years, they were no longer
slaves), hope (God was promising to give them a home), and the presence of God
in their midst. The more they soaked in thoughts of their freedom, and the hope
they had, and that God was with them, the more clearly they would be able to
think, and the better they would feel. Being stripped of worry also made them
ready for whatever action might be required of them in the future.
I spend way too much time thinking about things I don't have, or that I don't know, or that I can't control. How about you?
What thoughts are you thinking that aren’t taking you
anywhere? What thoughts only bring worry and confusion? What are you trying to
control, that is uncontrollable. What unknown things are you trying to predict?
Life becomes brutal when we only think about what we don’t currently have,
especially when the things that we do have are so amazing. Like the Israelites,
we have freedom, hope, and the presence of God with us
on the journey. This is where our journey begins….
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