Devotions
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Peace of Mind - Part I
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“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
-Matthew 6:25
 

One effective principle that leads to peace of mind is to learn to live by the calendar, not by the clock. An enormous amount of inner agitation, emotional disturbance, and turbulent thoughts, along with the disruption of poise and peace, comes when we make mountains out of molehills.

 Look at a calendar. If you try to think of the year as 365 days, it becomes unmanageable. However, when you think of the year as twelve months, already time falls into order. And, something else will happen to you - you will start to look at the larger picture.

 A great lecturer and writer, Emily Kimbrough, shares about a lesson she once learned. As a ten-year-old girl, she was readying herself to go on stage for a school performance when she became very upset because her hair didn’t look right. She got frantic - almost hysterical. Her grandmother, who was with her, said, “Emily, this is nonsense. You would never notice it from a trotting horse.”

 Emily remembered that advice. Years later, she was preparing to lecture to a large audience when she noticed a run in her stocking. For a moment, she felt panic; then she remembered Grandma’s advice: “Nonsense, Emily, you would never notice it from a trotting horse!”

 What you think is so upsetting today is actually just trotting by. A year from now nobody will even think about it, not even you. Live by the calendar, not by the clock.
 

Today, Lord, I will accept only those thoughts, ideas, and practices that are pleasing to You. Help me to major in the majors, to look only at the big picture, as I live today. Knowing You are with me gives me peace. Amen.

Imagine you have a filter on your brain that clears out everything entering your mind that would hold you back from living your best life. What current thoughts, ideas, and practices would be filtered out? Which positive, affirming, motivating thoughts would pass easily through the filter?