Traveling with small children is always an adventure. We pack up our entire house to make our home away from home as familiar as possible. We try to stick to familiar routines. We save and splurge to provide memory making opportunities. This week, my girls and I loaded up the kids to visit my sister’s family at the beach. We came in one car carrying minimal luggage to a rented house. For entertainment, we’re doing exactly what we’d be doing at home- spending as much time as possible outside.
At the elaborate playground nearby, the main attraction was sand. At the house, the rock mulch and on the beach, a million shell fragments and seaweed that washed up with the tide. The few toys we lugged there and back lay discarded within minutes with so many other distractions. Seagulls gobbling up bread crusts torn from pb&j sandwiches, dog-walkers, airplanes, and other children form an ever changing backdrop for endless fun. I could wash and wear the same shorts and tshirt every day and no one would care or even notice.
This was a bit of an impromptu visit, but it was not without planning and preparation. A day in and we’ve packed away the toys except for the bag of plastic blocks and cleared a large space in the living room of anything breakable. I spent half an hour in the floor with the toddlers before dinner building whatever I could think of as quickly as possible to have them knock it over and giggle when I pretended to be upset. I have an even better understanding of what Jesus meant when He said,
”“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear.
Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?
Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?
Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.
And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’
These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.“
Matthew 6:25-34 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.6.25-34.NLT
Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Having enough- food, drink and clothes- dominates the minds of unbelievers. Your Heavenly Father already know all your needs, so don’t worry about tomorrow. Don’t borrow troubles. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Seek God’s kingdom first and live righteously. These little ones are watching our faces, gauging our reactions, and hearing our words. They are patterning their lives after ours one habit at a time. May I never grow complacent, never be so absorbed in temporal things of this world that I forget the souls who will inherit the next with me.
”And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me.
For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!”“
John 16:33 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/jhn.16.33.TPT
”“So don’t be afraid, little flock.
For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.“
Luke 12:32 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.12.32.NLT
”You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple; and your lives have been built up together upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ himself!
This entire building is under construction and is continually growing under his supervision until it rises up completed as the holy temple of the Lord himself.
This means that God is transforming each one of you into the Holy of Holies, his dwelling place, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you!“
Ephesians 2:20-22 TPT
A Fitting Reply 