Pitching your tent is not so much where you reside – a cabin in the woods, a condo in the city, a sprawling suburban mini-mansion – it’s where your thoughts reside. Do you fall into the same trap that I do sometimes and constantly worry… over finances, over your children, even over your weight? Some days you embark on a path of positive thinking, but worry surely finds a way to color your thoughts before long.
I have a friend who says when we worry over what someone else thinks of us, we are simply giving that person free rent in our heads. Prime space that could be better served focusing on something productive, useful, beautiful. Often we worry over our family members, especially our children. Worry achieves nothing; instead we should be praying for them. Recently God keeps placing on my heart the call to pray for others, for my concerns, my desires. Actively pray. In fact, I’m planning to make a prayer jar to house all my worries. Wishes scribbled on scraps of paper offered up to my Father as tangible reminders for Him to take care of them. Because He will.
You have the power to allow fear and worry to rule your life or to allow prayer to heal your life. God’s call for us to not worry is also His call for us to pray. Really pray. Make a schedule, if you have to. Mark it on your calendar. The same as if you were starting a new exercise program. Plan for it. You don’t have to wake up every morning and feel a wave of sadness because of a trial you are going through. Instead, you can begin each day with a feeling of expectancy, hope. It’s all a matter of where you pitch your tent.
