Remember When?
By Todd Abraham
Athens, Tennessee
You woke up in the morning to the sound of that awful alarm clock. Or the blaring of your favorite radio station. You begrudgingly got out of bed, threw on your robe, and sauntered to the kitchen for that first glorious cup of coffee. Past the push button phone hanging on the wall which you prayed wouldn’t ring until after the 2nd cup. After starting the coffee, you leaped into your comfy recliner and popped on the morning news to check the traffic and make sure the world hadn’t collapsed. Your 30 minutes of bliss are now over as the sounds of your children begin to echo through your home. Alas, the zoo is sprung upon you and the hour-long whirlwind of preparation has begun to get everyone ready for their day. You to work and your children off to school. You secretly thank God for the help of your children’s teachers taking at least some of the weight off of you in the child-raising conundrum.
Climbing into your car and heading off to work, you tune your radio into the local morning show so you can keep an ear out for traffic accidents. Ten minutes into your commute, you remember you forgot to tell your spouse to pick up one of your children from school early for a doctor’s appointment. Whipping into the local convenience store, fumbling for a few quarters, so you can call them from the pay phone. After a somewhat busy but normal day at work, it’s back home in the afternoon drive with what seems like clouds of endless cars. Arriving home, your spouse wants the family to have dinner out tonight. The children’s report cards were better than expected and we are going to celebrate. On the way to the restaurant, the family sang along to their favorite song on the radio and talked about their respective days. Dinner is lovely and the family conversations and laughter are even better. Tuck the kids in goodnight after prayer time and off to dreamy time you go.
The next day, it is the bus ride to work because the car is in the shop getting serviced. Folks on the bus either conversing with each other, reading a book, magazine, or newspaper or just observing the world around them. One young man jamming out with his hip-borne radio and headphones on. Work is busy and the only sound you hear, other than lots of people, is the sound of phones ringing occasionally. Everyone is pretty focused. During break, you sit in the break room and chat with your coworkers about your upcoming vacation to Yellowstone National Park. A few days later, vacation time at last with one whole week of relaxation and recharging the batteries. Hours and hours of quality time with your family and, most importantly, time to meditate on the Lord without the daily hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Life is good and simple as you navigate day-to-day walking in the ways of the Lord. There are distractions that you could probably live without but they all are easily put aside as necessary. The world and all of its problems are on the outside of your self-contained world flowing in normal cycles. You cherish what God allows you to experience realizing He never intended for you to see it all and know everything that goes on in it. Life and its problems and the attacks of the enemy are more than enough to occupy you without the weight of the entire world also being on your shoulders! Remember when? 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
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Todd Abraham is an evangelist of the gospel of Jesus Christ and publisher of Heartbeat Christian News which has been in publication for 9 years now by the grace of God. You can read all about it at www.HBCNewsMonthly.com.
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