So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Matthew 6:31-32
“We do not feel we have “enough.” No matter how much we have we want more. We tell ourselves that more is the answer. But is it? Prosperity is spiritual, not fiscal…”Put aside a little something for a rainy day,” we are taught. Financial woes are the cloud on our horizon. Just like that “bad” weather, fiscal insecurity is bound to come. Our hearts are clenched against the disaster we fear is looming. We may have enough for today but what about tomorrow? …
What if our fearful perceptions are wrong? We have been okay so far and we may yet be okay…”Perhaps” we say to ourselves, “but it would take an act of God.” Yes and acts of God are beyond number when we are in dire straits. Although we seldom realize it, we can count on them. Instead, consumed with worry about holding on to what we have, we seldom think of God’s helping hand…”
Julia Cameron in The Prosperous Heart: Creating a Life of Enough (New York: Penguin, 2011) 52-54.
As we travel from the top to bottom of New Zealand enjoying rest (which is the peaceful place of perpetual trust in God) and recreation (which we are finding is the enjoyment of God’s creation together from a posture of trust), we have discovered that an enemy of rest and recreation is worry. The antidote is seeking God and trusting in His helping hand.
We have a story to tell about that.
As we travel, all our iPhones are on airplane mode (we never turn them on internationally to avoid roaming fees). So for our planned outings (like a kayak trip that was slated for 17 May and our helicopter ride that was slated for 18 May) I would just give the phone number of the place we were scheduled to stay. Well, yesterday morning the phone rang here at “The Sails Nelson” where we have spent two nights. It was Mike at Reid Helicopters.
“Dr. Hoag, I am calling to say we can take you out today but a storm front is coming in that will cancel the rest of our flights for the week.” We were scheduled to fly the next day. I called our Pelorus River kayak guide (we were slated to ride the barrel run that day) and asked if we could flip our dates (we would be okay to kayak down a river with some rain). It worked. We could flip our reservations. We called Mike back on the hotel phone and were good to go.
Anyway, long story short, thanks to God’s helping hand, we got to do the helicopter ride with a rainy day on the horizon. And it made our drive today heading south along the east coast even shorter after our Pelorus River kayaking adventure in Havelock. We rejoice tonight with gratitude for “God’s helping hand.”
We think the best way to experience rest and enjoyment is to perpetually trust and depend on God’s helping hand.