Thursday thoughts: Hold on to God

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Why is it that I always end up experiencing the “After Christmas Blues” every year? It just seems as though it is hard to motivate myself, get in a routine, and just generally want to get back into my life again.

I do not like this about myself, but I don’t think I am the only one who feels that way. I was thinking this morning about a Christmas around three years ago. I was putting my granddaughter, Lottie, who was in kindergarten at the time, to bed one night. Right before her Christmas break, she was allowed to wear her pajamas to school and they watched "The Polar Express" movie. I am sure at the time it was her first time seeing this movie. The teacher printed tickets and gave them to all the kids. Lottie was so excited when she came home that day. She carried that ticket around for several days – she even had me punch holes in it because that is what they did in the movie. She was just so proud of that ticket and the memories it represented.

We watched the movie several times over Christmas break at our house upon her request. After Christmas, the movie really wasn’t talked about again. When I was putting her to bed one night after Christmas, she started looking for that crazy ticket. I thought she was just trying to delay bedtime, which she is very good at doing. We finally found the ticket and she wanted to sleep with it. In my mind, I was thinking that ticket is going to be lost or destroyed in the night. She fell asleep and as I was walking out of her room, I noticed her sweet little hand. She was holding tightly to her crumpled, hole-punched, ticket. God immediately spoke to my heart and I thought – she is holding onto that ticket because it had value to her, it had meaning to her, and it represented a great memory.

I started thinking what is it that I hold onto? Do I hold onto what is meaningful, has value, and a sweet reminder, or is it unimportant, insignificant, damaging, and harmful? I will admit that lately, I have had more of the “bad things” that I have held onto versus the “good things.”

I felt like God was speaking to me and saying my dear sweet child – hold onto ME and my WORD. Those are the things that are important, productive and helpful. Lottie was a great reminder to me that God and His Word are the things that matter.

I should be holding on for dear life to those things. My hope should be in His Word – not mine. In Psalms 43:5 it says “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in GOD!” I am my own biggest enemy. I can let my heart become discouraged and sad over things that are going on in my life and, honestly, most of the time they are things that I have no control over. If I dwell on those things I lose hope. I have to put my hope in GOD.

You would think after years of following Christ this would be easy for me….but sadly…it’s hard! If you look up the definition of “put” it says “place, lay or set in a location or position and leave it.” The "leave it" part is the one I have trouble with. If I don’t leave it there, I lose hope. Some days I exhaust myself by putting it down and picking it up and it seems like I can do this over and over again. All this does for me is make me discouraged and sad.

That is not what God intended for me or for you. He wants us to hold onto the hope that HE is in control, He can handle it, and He wants to take care of it for us. I need to hold onto the things that mean so much to me – my God, my faith, my Bible – the things that have meaning to me – His Word and HIS promises – and the things that represent good memories – all the ways God has taken care of me, provided for me, worked a situation that seemed hopeless out for my good and His glory.

I know this sounds like it should be easy because there are tons of things and ways that God has provided for me in hundreds of different situations. But for some reason, my memory can be short, and hopelessness can prevail. I am going to make an extreme effort to put my hope in God and leave it there. Am I going to immediately be successful? No, because I am human and like I said, I can be my own worst enemy. However, won’t you join me? We all know “two are better than one, for if either of us falls, one can help the other up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

I am going to strive to be the encourager and hope others will want to be the same for me. This life isn’t easy and we all need each other. Let’s start our new year off by placing our hope in the right place. I pray you will walk this road with me. I just need you to know if I fall (which I will) and I need help (which I will), don’t be surprised if you see a crumpled, hole-punched ticket in my hand. I will be borrowing it from Lottie just as a reminder.

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Jill Johnson, a staff member at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, finds spiritual applications in her everyday experiences as a wife, mother, grandmother and Georgian. She is available to speak to your church's women's gatherings. Reach her at jjohnson@gabaptist.org.