Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 (NIV)
As the newest morning of our lives rises over the horizon, the memory of a long-ago moment is fresh on my mind, although it was many years ago in the making.
Lynda and I were in North Carolina. I was in the midst of dealing with many issues from there, including some business issues involving our larger family circle.
I would have explained my manner and countenance as “focused”, “stoic”, “resolute”, and “determined.” Lynda hit the nail on the head, though, when she stood before me late one afternoon, after a particularly stressful day in dealing with all that was on my plate, and said…
“You don’t seem to have any joy in your face anymore.”
I realized, without discussion or rebuttal, that she was right.
What I thought was an otherwise impregnable exterior betrayed—to someone who knew me best—an inner world full of worry, trembling with fear in the face of the uncertainty before me, and wondering moment-by-moment whether I could handle what I had to handle. Sound familiar?
How many people do you know who seem to have an exterior air of impregnability, only to find they tremble inside with fear? How many times have we faced anxieties and fears with outward appearances of strength, only to fall asleep at night gently pulsing with worry? Or perhaps we try to shore up the insecurities of life by gathering wealth around us, or things, or status, or our “fifteen minutes of fame.”
But in the end, those things prove wanting in delivering us from our fears and helping us to move into the sunshine and concerns of each new day. If strength could deliver us, the dictators of the past would have carried the day. If possessions could, well, the list would be endless with how many who seemed to have it all—and in the end really had nothing. If fame or status could—you pick your own celebrity out of a list of those whose fears weren’t conquered simply because their face made the front cover of “People” magazine.
Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who are available to and submissive to God for their direction in life. Blessed are those who trust God for the fullness of their day, who realized that ultimately at the sunset of the day, God had been and remains in control. Blessed are those who walk in meekness—trusting in God—rather than trying to walk on their own, and in their own power, eventually falling prey to the fear of something—fear of death, fear of failure, fear of tomorrow.
Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those available to God, for they will inherit the earth—that is—they will live life here and hereafter courageously in God’s power, under His control, in alignment with His purposes. Blessed are the meek—those available to follow God’s direction for their lives—for they will live with a courage which overcomes the concerns of the day-to-day world. A courage which recognizes that in the end God wins and therefore those who love and trust in Him win also.
They will have joy in their faces.
Here are some options for each of us, as the mornings rise over the horizons of every day of our lives…
Trust God, or Worry. Two behaviors. Which one will you show?
Faith, or Despair. Two attitudes. Which one will you embrace?
Hope, or Fear. Two visions. Which one will you live?
Eternity, or Not. Two choices. Which one will you choose?
Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those available to God, allowing God to control their lives, and as a result are assured of the promise of today and tomorrow.
Think of it this way. I don’t know how many of you watched the Winter Olympics from Turin, Italy a few years ago. Early in the games, I was watching the snowboarding “half-pipe” competition one evening. An American snowboarder, Shaun White, known as the “Flying Tomato” because of his long flowing red hair, had to fight back from a disastrous first run to make it into the finals. He made it. In the finals, each competitor had two runs and the best score of the two was the only one that counted to determine the Gold medal winner. The other score was thrown out.
Shaun’s first run of the finals was magnificent. And as he stood waiting to begin his second run after the other competitors had made their second runs, he was told that based upon his first score—he had won the Gold. No matter what he did on the second run, he was the Gold medal winner. He didn’t even need to make the second run.
How do you think he approached his second run with that news in hand? Worried? Fearful? Cautiously? Not on your life, and neither would you.
Instead he let it all go, confident and courageous. The prize was his. And his second run was a thing of beauty.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who trust God.
The ones with joy in their faces.
In His Name—Scott
