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| Pickwick Falls just south of Winona, Minnesota. Taken yesterday. |
Today I sit here at the dining table while my family is yet
sleeping. The darkness outside reminds
me that winter is soon approaching here in Minnesota. Just two short months ago I was watching a
beautiful sunrise at this time. Our
weather changes so quickly here in the North Country that it seems that when one just starts to get used to a season, it changes. On the positive side to this is that one
appreciates our seasons so much more knowing that they are around for a limited
time.
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| Pickwick Pond |
I am learning and have learned from my wife Anne about the
ability to look ahead and be happy with the events in the future, rather than
looking back and feeling remorse for what has gone by. She has the unique ability to look at a
future that is always positive, while on the other hand, at times I tend to prepare for difficult eventualities
that might or might not happen. God knew
that we needed each other when in his plan he prepared her for me. She is constantly looking at almost every situation
with a positive slant, and I am amazed how she can take even the saddest circumstances
with our family, and help us to see the silver lining around it.
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| Turkey Vulture near our home. We are all in good health! |
Being raised with a good German work ethic in my background,
I have learned that it is always important to go on and do your best no matter
how hard things might get. As a young
man growing up, I recall the banner in our wrestling room that read, “When the
times get tough, the tough gets going!”
Also, “Losers quit while winners quit losing!” There were other sayings that many of you might
have read as well. Most of us were
taught in sports that there are ways to toughen up and forgo the pain by seeing only the
goal at the end of the struggle. “Tough it out and don’t stop when times get
hard” was the motto so many of us saw in sports in school. It was drilled into our heads that in order
to be a winner, you have to put pain aside, and look at the potential that might
await you if you don’t take your eyes off the goal.
But! But there are
times in life that require you take stock in the direction you are going, and
change course if it is not working out for you.
No matter how hard it is, trying harder might not make it right for you
to continue on a path that is leading nowhere.
No matter what attitude with being positive or not, it might not be the
direction God has for you. Have you ever
noticed how God has a way of removing your peace when you are heading in the
wrong direction? We find ourselves
slamming our heads against the proverbial wall time and time again, until we
stop one day and say, “Lord, please show me the way to ‘your’ path. Show me what you want me to do.” I have discovered this in my own life that
when God chooses another direction for me, I will not find peace until I acknowledge
his leading in my life, and give up my will and allow him to open the doors
that will guide me out into the light.
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| Sunrise this morning outside my window. |
If you are lacking peace, take time today and
ask God what it is that is taking this peace from your life. He is faithful to help you in this time of
need, and he wants to be there for you. (1 Peter 5:7) Just as you desire to help your children when they face difficult
problems in their lives, so too does God want to be there for you as well. God will bless you with his peace once again,
and he will show you the way out and through any problem you might
have. (Isaiah 41:10)
