Friday, August 7, 2015

"Don't let your problems, get you down."

Have you ever heard the saying “tragedies are common place?” In the day and age we are living, catastrophes seem to be happening all around us. From earthquakes and typhoons to police brutality and murder our world is definitely in turmoil. Have you ever heard the saying “Don’t let your problems get you down?” This is the principle I believe we should all practice. I’ll bet you are saying “Gena-Mae, how can you talk about the horrible condition of the world then say, I shouldn’t let my problems get me down?” Let’s consider a story by an unknown author of the Donkey in the Pit. In the fable a donkey has fallen in a deep pit and for day cries bitterly as he cannot escape on his own. The farmer who owned him finds him there and cannot figure out how to pull him to safety, as he is poor and has very few means. Finally deciding that the donkey is old and costly to care for the farmer decides to bury the crying animal right there in the pit. To make the process faster the farmer invites others from the village to bring their shovels and help him bury the donkey. One by one each villager filled their shovels with dirt and tossed it into the pit upon the donkey. At first the poor bewildered animal cries even the more for mercy, but to no avail. Suddenly the villagers realize the donkey has quieted and figure he has suffocated. However to their amazement with every shovel of dirt they pour on the donkey, he had begun to shake it from his back onto the ground beneath him and take a step up. Before long as the process repeats the donkey has shaken hundreds of shovels of dirt from his back, stepping up on them he is soon able to step over the edge of the pit and trot off. I shared all of that to say, no matter what the world around you is doing, it is up to you how your life pans out. You can choose to let the cares of this world bury you or you can decide to step up despite of challenges, past hurts etc. In John 16:33 NKJV Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” In I John 5:5 NKJV the writer says, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” This lets us know that nothing can take us out unless we give up and allow it to. As long as we have faith in Christ we can “shake it off and overcome.” Remember the donkey in the pit. Think about it.

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