(Michelle Hale Ambriz loves children! She lives and serves with "Foundation For His Ministry" in Vicente Guerrero, Baja California, Mexico. She also teaches kindergarten in a nearby community called Emiliano Zapata.)
How often do you slow down, stop and take a deep breath? What does it actually mean to slow down? I, like many others, decided to choose a word for the year back on New Year's Day of 2021. I chose the word calm. We were all starting the year in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, with the restrictions in work, church, and social interactions. I had convinced myself that I was going to have silence and solitude every morning and experience calm. I have to admit that for an introvert it sounded kind of nice.
Unfortunately as I write this, we are already in the middle of November and I don’t think I have experienced the calm that I was expecting. Someone told me once that if the enemy can’t stop you, he will make you live in a hurry until you crash. I've been living in a hurry, wishing I had that calm but thinking there’s no time to rest and believing I have the control of my life. But how do you stay grounded when the ground is moving? There is something about the coronavirus pandemic that makes us all vulnerable to it just because we are humans. We can't control whether we or someone we love has it.
But God always sees the bigger picture and His promise to us is that He is with us in the midst of all or our pain. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Look back on your life, and see how He has helped you through difficult days. If you are tempted to think; "Yes, but that was then, and this is now," remember who He is! Although you and your circumstances may change dramatically, He remains the same throughout time and eternity. This is the basis of your confidence. In His presence you live and move and have your being.
Isaiah 41:10
"So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Sometimes as children of God, we hesitate to receive His good gifts with open hands. Feelings of false guilt creep in, telling us we don't deserve all His gifts and blessings. But the truth is that no one deserves anything from God. His kingdom is not about earning and deserving: it's about believing and receiving.
Last week I got covid. As many young adults that have had covid I'm doing just fine, but it took a virus to finally be able to slow down and breathe. To come to the moment. Receive the good as a gift and accept the hard as a pathway to peace.
There is a famous quote that says:
“Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all”
