A Parent's Love and Worry.

I said to my husband this morning, "I'm 65 years old and I still have trouble trusting God. It astounds me how little faith and trust I have."

I said this because I was thinking about my granddaughters. All three of them are now adults, ages 22, 19 and 18. They are getting jobs, traveling, and making decisions about careers. For better or worse, they are now on their own in this crazy world.

I was visiting them last week and I noticed that my daughter worries about them as I've been doing. We both know how the world can hurt you. Of course, I mean the people of the world. Those people aren't in love with the girls like we are. Those people can be mean, nasty and dangerous. We want to shield the girls from any harm that might come. The trouble is, we know we can't.

A person can go nuts with worry. This is not what Jesus wants from us. He says to trust in God in every situation; and it's no wonder, because worry is so destructive to our minds and hearts. I must give my granddaughters to God. I must trust he hears my prayers for them. I must trust he loves them even more than I do.

Even as I type those words I feel a peace come in.

I read in the Bible this morning, "Righteousness will go before Him, and He shall make his footsteps our pathway."  Psalm 85:13

"His footsteps will be our pathway." I thought of Jesus and how he said, "Follow me." He trusted his Father. Jesus never worried. He suffered, but he continually trusted God. I pray for his trust, his peace and his serenity. Worry comes into my heart every day; that is the kind of person I am. But I can pray every day too. I can pray for Jesus to fill me with himself and he has promised to do this. I can pray he will take my worries about my grandchildren and cast them into the depths of the sea, and I can believe he will, for this day. I can trust for this day, one day at a time.

The Narrow Path.

Photo by Dcrjsr  

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mountain_window_path_DuckPass.jpg

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it."

"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Matthew 7:13,14

Have you ever walked on a narrow path through the forest or up a mountain.?  You cannot walk side by side with anyone else. Everyone must walk in a line. Each person follows the one ahead.

Jesus says, "Follow me."  We walk a narrow path with Jesus ahead of us. As long as we keep our eyes on him, we won't get lost in the forest or wander off the path.


 Enter ye in at the strait gate—as if hardly wide enough to admit one at all. This expresses the difficulty of the first right step in religion, involving, as it does, a triumph over all our natural inclinations. Hence the still stronger expression in Luke13:24, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

for wide is the gate—easily entered.

and broad is the way—easily trodden.
that leads to destruction, and—thus lured "many there be which go in thereat."  

The gate is wide and the path is broad that leads to death. It is easy because we are naturally sinners who want to do their own thing. We want no interference from God or anyone else. We want to captain our own ship. We think we know what is best for us. 

The path is broad because we don't have to follow anyone - there is room for everyone to go their own way. What grows along the broad path? Selfishness, anger, bitterness and hate. There are good times with laughter and fun, but there is also suffering and death. There is no danger of going off the path of sin. If you want to leave the broad path, you have to deliberately make a detour onto the narrow path.

I will tell you what grows along the narrow path: love, joy, peace, forgiveness, patience and everlasting life. There are also pains, sorrow, troubles and trials, but we don't have to look around at other people for solutions. There is Jesus, just ahead of us leading the way. There he is to talk with and learn from and gain strength from. The narrowness of the path is the best thing about it.

Follow Me!

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:38

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27

Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me. John12:26

He said to another person, "Come, follow me." The man agreed, but he said, "Lord, first let me return home and bury my father." Luke 9:59

As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. Mark 2:14

At one point, Jesus told Peter twice to follow him:

Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, "Follow me." John 21:19

Jesus replied, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me." John 21:22

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." John 1:43

Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!" Matthew 4:19

Have you ever tried to follow someone in your car? They say, "Just follow me to my house!" All the time you are driving your eyes are riveted on that car. 

My aunt and uncle were visiting my family. They were from Canada and we met them in Los Angeles to show them to our house which was an hour away. Not being used to huge, busy freeways, my uncle lost sight of us and got lost. Freeways in Los Angeles often split in half and if you are in the wrong lane - too bad for you!

Eventually, after driving on and off freeways and going in circles, they got some directions and a map at a gas station and made it to our house. 

I have certainly noticed in my life that when my eyes are off Jesus and on me and my troubles then I do feel lost and sometimes go around in circles. Looking at Jesus strengthens my faith in and love for God.  and puts life in perspective.

"Follow me," he said over and over. It is like keeping your eyes on a fixed star in order to find your way home.

 "The fixed stars have always been the means by which we measure our position in the Universe. They were first categorized by their colour and were associated with the characteristics of the planets thereby."  http://www.qhdc.org/barclay/fxstar.htm

Jesus is a fixed star, "...by which we measure our position in the Universe."

"We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." Hebrews 12:2