“With all the changes in my life, I ask you Lord for Peace.”
~ Jill Lemming
To borrow the words of Queen Elizabeth II, 2022 has been a year “annus horribilus.” I’ve been in poor health, lost one friend to death, three friends to indifference for reasons unknown to me, spent most of the year out of church (still am, but working on it), and anything that could go badly … did go badly.
As I’ve written in previous years, I am a man of diagnosed anxiety and depression and as long as I stay on my medicine, I can do pretty good. It’s just when so much happens over a period of time, it tends to overwhelm me and I withdraw and can’t function very well. And now, with no close friends to socialize with, I do my best impression of a hermit. I found this marvelous little pendant called a “Shift” that I can wear around my neck, and it helps to regulate my breathing when panic sets in.
2023 is gonna be better! I’ve made that decision and have started to journal again, which is helping a lot. Between that and an excellent understanding therapist, this year is looking up. Now, if I can just work on that church thing. And I am.
The journaling is most helpful, too. Way back in the day, I kept a blog that served pretty much the same purpose, but some folks didn’t like what I wrote and I finally had to quit to get rid of those who thought they knew what I needed to do. Social Media on the public domain proved to be a horrible way to air my deep thoughts and feelings. So, now I have some books to write in and it has truly helped me. I can read back and see how I overcame problem days.
I realized at some point recently that the Bible is kinda like God’s journal to me and to the world. It tells of people going through rough times and how God brought them through. It tells of people overcoming incredible odds and danger because of their faith in God (think of Daniel in the lion’s den). So, I am doing my own private journal and spilling out my thoughts: my fears, my accomplishments, my worries, etc.
One other thing I’ve learned to do is spend time outdoors. Doing nothing but sitting (sometimes wrapped in a heavy coat and blanket) and watching nature. My back deck faces the woods and I can watch the breezes blow the trees, the birds flitting to the feeders, other various animals, and maybe a gentle rain, but most of all, I find God in the quiet and the stillness of nature … His creation. This world today is crazy and problematic and I have to find a calm somewhere and it’s on my deck.
God cannot speak to us in hubbub and a mind full of junk thoughts and stress. Our society demands busyness, which disrupts our hearing and talking to God. He can only speak in the quietness of our heart and mind (hence my back deck) and I live for my daily trip there.
So, how are you doing in this regard? Are you too busy with work, with friends, socializing, and just staying busy that you have lost a close relationship with God? I did … yes, this writer lost touch with God for a season, but we’re back together now. It took a trying time of loss and illness to lose that relationship, but I’m getting back there.
If you are there, or ever get there, then there is a simple scripture that I would like you to remember.
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). Be still. Know.
And for today, this has been the gospel according to Jimmy.
Jimmy Cochran is a resident of McDonough, a musician, a minister and the author of Being God’s and Staying God’s, both available at Amazon.com. Being God’s is also available at Moye’s Pharmacy in McDonough.
