Note to self, "Live!"

"... and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."
~ 2 Peter 1:19

I will admit, sometimes I just get caught up in death and dying, especially when I have had an overwhelming situation. I can remember years ago when I had been having some tough encounters with patients, and then coming home to my daughter who was a teenager at the time, and her telling me, "Dad, I'm not dying."

Just yesterday, my sister Laura, who is a psychiatric nurse reminded me, "Sometimes you have to remind yourself to look for things that brings you life."

It's easy for any of us to get overwhelmed, or trapped in a particular thought or pattern. Sometimes getting out of the "rut" that we have created for ourselves takes intentionality, or for some, even help. Recognizing when we are "stuck," is really the moment that we begin to make a change.

Learning to listen to our own hearts takes time, and sometimes patience, but that is where our intimacy with God begins. Taking a few moments a day can change your life. We are to also be focused upon living. So often when I meet the patients I care for they have already been told that their life is being limited. Reminding them that they are still living can be a real struggle. Even on the day they die, they are still in the process of living.

While Jesus had days where he struggled, he still is our example, saying to us and the disciples, "Don't be afraid. Perfect love casts out fear." He walked freely, lived freely, and carried on an intimate relationship with the One who sent him into the world.

Sometimes new is simply happening and we don't realize it. When a door closes, another opens. When one season ends, another begins. With each new day we are invited to live!

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2019