Day 5: Be Mindful & Focus
Matthew 6:34 “Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
A resilient person is one that will view each day as having enough. Enough time, money, well-being or whatever is needed for the day. A resilient person has tools or effective coping mechanisms that they can use to manage emotions and navigate life with. In the case of a Christian, God provides another set of tools. God wants us to trust Him and His provision.
My interpretation of the verse for today could be, “Eyes on today, you got this. Don’t think, worry and waste energy on tomorrow, I am here. Love ya, God.” He wants us to be in the moment or be mindful in today’s lingo and focus on today. He does not want us to dwell on the past. He does not want us going down the “what IF” trail into tomorrow or the future. Remember, most of what we think about could happen, never does. It is a huge waste of time and energy. God wants us to focus on “what IS”. What is? He is I am (Exodus 6:29, John 6:48, Revelation 1:18 NLT), the beginning and the end. He is the Almighty God, the maker of heaven and earth. He does not want our minds to creep into fear.
He wants us to think about the things in Philippians 4:8-9 NLT where Paul write, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely. And admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from Me – everything you heard from Me and saw Me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” A few verses later, Paul writes, “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” There is no * with fine print below that says – “God is not available after 7pm or before 9am; or list of situations that are stressful that are exceptions to His Power”. “All things” includes life and its fiery trials as we read about Day 2 & 3. We are to be resilient, to trust Him and to press on. Our biology as we learned about in Day 4 readies our bodies to respond to change – life brings stress: work stress, personal life stress, marriage or single life stress, kids or no kids stress. Any kind of circumstance that are in life that triggers you to attempt going down the “What IF” path, He has under control, focus on “What IS”. God has all of it covered in the phrase “all things”.
One of the themes that overlap and build on one another that Dr. Joel Bennett talks about in his book, Raw Coping Power is, “responsible and healthful action”. Resilient people make the right choice and manage their triggers. They have tools to effectively cope with stress. As Christians, we can take our cares and stress to God, as stated in I Peter 5:7. He doesn’t magically take stress away, we just know that His helping hand, His sheltering wings and His power are on our side. We can face stress and new challenges with more ease, we can appreciate that stress makes us better as we get through it. We are challenged, honed and encouraged as we make it through stress. We emerge more resilient and able to thrive, facing each situation with new lenses. Resilience IN HIM grows as our faith and trust IN HIM grows.
Prayer: Lord God, be with me. Help me to memorize verses like Matthew 6:33-34 as a reminder of where you want my focus to be. Amen.
Tip: Writing verses on a sticky note or a note card can help you memorize a verse keeping it in front of you. Or say it out loud.
