Do Not Worry

  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:25-27 (New International Version)

I was going over some of the notes I took at Lifest last week. Yes, I carry a small notebook with me and write down things that people say which inspire me. Or that was the idea.

Tiffany Thompson, one of my favorite speakers at Lifest each year, talked about what psychologists claim makes people happy. Number one thing was gratitude, and not necessarily just feeling grateful, but the actual act of searching (and hopefully finding) things which you are grateful for.

Next was sleep, but it’s not about getting enough sleep; it’s about not worrying about it.  A lot of people (ok, always me) get to bed late, and right away are thinking “I have to get up early in the morning and now I’m not going to get enough sleep and I’m going to be shot all day.” Instead of thinking, “oh, well, I’ll get whatever sleep I can tonight and tomorrow is going to be just fine”.

Third was decision-making. And again (maybe you are starting to see a trend), it’s not about making the right decision; it’s about just making it. Another huge stumbling block for me. I will obsess for days before I am able to make the tiniest, inconsequential decision. “I need a new pair of work shoes, but I really need to wait until they go on sale, but when will that be? And am I going to get to the store while the sale is still on? What if they go on sale right after I buy them? Do you think the store would refund the difference if I took them back when they did go on sale? I’ve always worn white shoes to work, but everyone else is wearing colored ones? Think it would be okay if I wore colored ones too, or would I just be following the pack by doing what they do?” And it goes on and on. Holy cow! Just buy the stupid shoes. Who cares if they cost ten dollars more this week. The amount of stress you are causing yourself is costing your mental health way more than ten bucks!

The last thing which I wrote down was exercise. And you guessed it. It’s not about getting in those 30 minutes four days a week, it’s about doing whatever you can do that makes you feel good. I still wish I could start running again, but my Achilles tendon is still killing me. I need to get over that and accept the fact that I’m not meant to run and just do exercises which make me feel good.

Or that’s what I got out of what Tiffany had to say.

It seems to me, then, that the number one key to finding happiness is to keep it simple, do the best you can, then move on and be thankful for what you have. And in the end, remember that God’s got it covered. 

In the Bubble

I know, it has been ten days since I returned from Lifest, I should move on, huh? But I really haven’t blogged about the festival at all. I have instead been in a down mood and fighting a migraine for nearly a week. Kind of not feeling so creative. Or social even.

A friend of mine who had been to Lifest with me a couple of times says that being there is like life in a bubble. Everything is safe, everyone shares your point of view, there is no stress. Life is easy at a place like that. You get to hear positive uplifting messages in word and song. During the three days we were there I don’t remember anybody having a bad attitude. I was probably the worst one, when I butted to the front of the line at the bathroom because several stalls had run out of toilet paper and I naturally had a supply in my backpack. The Christian thing would have been to share it with those who had been waiting longer. I am such a miserable sinner. Sigh.

Then we get home and life is one long series of bathroom stalls without toilet paper and I am not nearly as prepared as I thought I was. How can I supply the world with toilet paper when I am down to just a few sheets for myself.

(Has this analogy come to a useless end? Let me think a minute while you look at pictures.)

 Our little campsite in the Bubble. 

 The three girls who joined us in our Bubble at our campsite. 

 His Little Feet, a group of former orphans from around the world. I don't think they ever had the chance until now to live in the Bubble. 

Only God can make a Bubble this big, filled with this many people all singing His praises. 

I guess that even in the Bubble, manure will happen. And outside of the Bubble the Sun can still shine. It truly does depend on what you make of it. 

Coincidence? I think not?

Yesterday, my friend Phyllis took me to Joyful Noise Christian music fest in Blaine, Minnesota. If you have been following the tales of my trip to Kenya last month, you may be thinking, “so what? We want to hear about Africa”. But hold on to your seats, God is bigger than that.

This festival, like Lifest, is sponsored by Compassion, International. Between two of the performers, someone got up and gave their plug for Compassion and then introduced a young man who had been a sponsored child with Compassion. Owen was from Kenya and he shared a little bit about his life.  

When he had finished speaking, the woman who introduced him said that he would be down at the Compassion tent if anyone wanted to talk to him. Phyllis poked me. “Let’s go, you have to meet him.”

We wound our way through the throng of people, blankets and camp chairs. I was immediately greeted by Owen’s warm smile when I got to his tent.

“Hi, I’m Chris,” I opened with, extending my hand. “I just got back from Kenya.”

“Where were you?” he asked, shaking my hand firmly.

“Mostly in Nairobi. We were working with a group called Marafiki.”

“Marafiki? In Dagoretti?”

“Yes…” It wasn’t possible that he knew of Izzo’s organization.

“I’m from Dagoretti. Did you work with Izzo?”

We talked for a bit, but other people wanted to meet him, so I had to move on. I texted Val in Kenya right away and she was as surprised as I was. Izzo and Gee, who also works with Marafiki, know Owen, and Gee was a Compassion child too.

 It seems like it is such a small world. And maybe it is. But I think what is more likely is that it is God’s world and He loves nothing more than bringing His children together. 

Knowing now that Gee was a Compassion child, it's easy for me to understand why he wants to pay it forward. I'll be writing more about him in the coming week.