Pastor's Pen
This isn't a church business page, rather it's the opportunity to
share a spiritual blessing on a more regular basis. Here you'll hopefully
find a weekly inspirational thought and a blessing, I trust..
.
A Temporary Situation
Jeremiah 1:19
Most people are familiar with the convoluted sayings
of baseball hall-of-famer Yogi Berra. Berra was the catcher, and later
the manager, of the legendary New York Yankees. (A collection of his best
sayings appeared in the Spring issue of Sermon Notes.) Some of the misstatements
attributed to Yogi include...
A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
It gets late early this time of year.
If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
I usually take a two hour nap, from one o’clock to four.
If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.
If I didn’t wake up, I’d still be sleeping.
It ain’t over till it’s over.
My favorite Yogi-ism occurred when a reporter asked
him what he was going to do about the fact that he was in the middle of
a batting slump. Yogi looked at the reporter with surprise and said, "Slump?
I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting."
There is undeniable wisdom in his perspective. It's
the difference between seeing your problems as a temporary situation or
a permanent condition. "Not hitting" is a game-to-game struggle; a "slump"
lasts indefinitely.
Our scriptures teach that believers can strike the
word "slump" and its equivalents from their vocabulary. We may face challenges,
setbacks--even outright persecution--but we have God's guarantee that it
will not last. His words to Jeremiah apply to us today:
They will fight against you but will not overcome
you, for I am with you and will rescue you. (Jeremiah 1:19)
During a difficult time in his life, a friend of
mine told me that he kept in his desk drawer a legal pad with the heading
"Things that will get better." It contained an itemized list of his many
problems, and without exception every one of them fell into the category
of "temporary." He referred to the list several times a week--and often
several times a day--to remind himself that he wasn't really in a permanent
slump, and that soon he would be hitting again.
I once heard a man say that as a child, when his
mother couldn't afford to buy him new clothes or expensive toys, she would
remind him, "Son, we're not really poor, we're just broke." He learned
to understood the difference. Poor is a long-term label; broke is a temporary
inconvenience.
Paul made reference to this mindset in one of his
letters. He said...
We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but
not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
(2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
Paul reminds us there is a difference between being
knocked down and being knocked out; there's a difference between seeing
a problem as a temporary situation and a permanent condition.
Be careful of the labels you give to the challenges you face. Remember
that they will not last forever, and by God's grace, it won't be long until
you're hitting again.
Grace and peace,
Nick