Cares and Concerns and Chaos

When do “many cares” not fill our mind?

Divine Consolation

Worldly distractions can prevent us from experiencing divine consolation.

Photo of a flower

For a
Quiet Mind by Deborah Beach Giordano

When Many Cares Fill My Mind

When many cares fill my mind,
Your consolations cheer my soul.
      ~ Psalm 94:19

The daily news,
the world’s troubles,
health concerns
and complicated relationships...
all these
conspire together
disrupting our sleep,
disturbing our digestion,
and distressing our spirits.

 

“News fasts” are no help:
information
slips in regardless;
seeping
through the cracks;
glimpses
of tragic headlines,
action alerts,

and politics....

 

We are in it deep;
up to our ears
in a crocodile-stocked
swamp
surrounded
by a million
sightless eyes
and snapping jaws
hungering for our souls.

 

Check this out!
Look at that!
Right here!
No, over there!
You just missed it.
Keep your eye
on the (bouncing) ball,
the swaying watch
the spinning lie ...

 

The “buzz”
fills the air
everywhere;
its hypnotic hum
transforming
divinely-designed creatures
into
bedazzled drones,
informing us

 

what is happening,
what is important,
what to value,
what to avoid,
what we deserve,
what is missing,
what to wear,
who to admire,
and who to hate

 

and why
we should be
dissatisfied,
disaffected,
shocked,
frightened,
angry,
outraged
 
and armed.

 

I confess
it is hard to hear
Your voice
above the shouting,
hard to see
Your quiet beauty
behind the razzle-dazzle,
hard to find peace
amid the chaos.

 

Even that
is a symptom
of the culture
that restrains me,
and its attempts
to retrain me
into believing
that what is good
should be convenient:

 

delivered
direct to your door,
prepackaged,
easy to swallow;
just heat
serve
and eat....
 
or
be devoured.

 

Remind me, Gracious God,
that what is worth having
is worth pursuing,
that what I seek
I will surely find,
that Your holy joy
and abiding consolation
are real and present
right here where I am.
 
Amen