For some reason, I have been having really weird dreams, lately.
One night last week, I dreamed Terry and I were in Italy, and found a “cheeseria.” It was located in a small village, known for their cheeses, so I could not wait to visit. When we walked inside this cheeseria, we were handed a glass of wine, a piece of paper that was like a scorecard and pen, and told to sample the cheeses and check which ones we liked, most. Terry’s scorecard had about four checks on it, where mine had about 30. We decided these cheeses were the best cheese either of us had ever tasted, and we bought so much to bring back, we had to buy new suitcases that were also sold there at the “cheeseria” because they do not do online orders and they do not ship.
We took our suitcases full of cheese to a FedEx facility who sold us blocks of ice and shipped it back to the States for us. But in my dream, one of the suitcases held the favorite cheeses Terry and I sampled, so I asked at the FedEx place, “Maybe I should keep that one with me, and it can be my carry-on bag so I can keep an eye on it.”
Y’all. This is how I dream, but it is also how I think. “Maybe I should just hold on to this, instead of giving up control of it, trusting God to handle it.”
While I very much wish that dream were true, and Terry and I had, in fact, been in Italy tasting delicious wines and cheeses at a “cheeseria,” the dream was a lesson for me. The problems and burdens we tend to carry around with us, we need to completely, totally, wholeheartedly release into the hands of Jesus. I can control my anxiety by allowing Papa’s consolation to bring me joy. In fact, this is exactly how I experience joy.
“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” - Psalm 94:19 (NIV)
We often allow our anxieties to overwhelm us when all we need to do is allow the consolation (the comfort, the solace, the sympathy, the compassion, the presence of God) to bring us joy.
When I find myself with clenched fists, not wanting to give up control, I remind myself what Paul told us to do, “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” - Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
I can easily distract myself with not knowing how I can control the outcome of situations, but Paul told me how I needed to distract myself from self-inflicted anxiety. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.”
True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy … I will think about such things.
I will also think about that cheeseria and figure out if such a place exists, and plan a trip there with my Terry!