“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14: 22-23, NIV
I’ve recently thought about all the “hats” that a mom wears. Wouldn’t it be something if we tried to wear them all at once? Our responsibilities are myriad. As a chef, we don an apron for our cooking role. We put on fashion wear to meet the beauty standards we’re held to. We could carry a children’s book to show how we should be reading to our children, with a robe over the whole mess for the romance we need to put into our marriage. Wait! We also need a checklist and calculator to frugally stay within the household budget. Of course, we can’t forget our workout gear because we need to stay healthy. Let’s also carry a Bible for our daily devotion. I think we may need a few more hands! A 2013, Business Insider article reported that “Based on the 10 most time consuming tasks listed by more than 6,000 mothers, Salary.com estimated it would cost $113,586 a year to replace them.” That is a lot of responsibility!
I could go on, and on, and on. Do you know how difficult it would be to walk around outfitted for all those different roles at the same time? Often I become overwhelmed with the expectations placed on me. Instead of looking to Christ, who promises his yoke is easy and his burden is light, I put a magnifying glass on my own life and my own problems. Can you relate? The problem is self-focus.
How identifiable Peter is to me. He so desperately wants to be close to God and the work He’s doing. But he becomes overwhelmed by his own earthly circumstances and physical limitations. Jesus responds immediately and catches Peter’s hand, reminding him of His power right away. He asks why Peter doubted. I suspect it’s a gentle reminder to keep the focus on Jesus instead of the circumstances that so easily overwhelm us.
This week, keep your eyes on the real priority, Jesus. All those other pieces fall into place when I’m focused on Jesus’ perspective. He will immediately reach out to help me. And when my faith falters, I’ll just trust Him, a life preserver in the middle of an ocean.
In Him,
Amy
Jeremiah was a prophet of the Old Testament who had the challenging task of proclaiming to the Israelites that they would be destroyed in divine judgement. One day the Lord spoke to Jeremiah and told him to “Go down to the potter’s house” Jeremiah 18:3 NIV, to witness a man working at the wheel. To picture this scene, we can imagine that Jeremiah most likely went down the grassy slopes of the Valley of Ben Hinnom near the Potsherd Gate (overlooking the dump for broken pottery). At his house, the potter began shaping a piece of clay at his wheel and it became marred (the Hebrew word means “ruined”) so the potter took the same clay and formed it into a new pot. The Lord then gave Jeremiah a message based on the scene he had just watched. “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? … Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand” Jeremiah 18:6 NIV. This hopeful message meant that even though Israel would be destroyed, God would keep his promise and renew them. The verses here are specifically about Israel, but the Bible also shows us that this metaphor about clay is universal. Isaiah 64:8 NIV says “you are our Father; we are the clay and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
While living in the small town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming, we were never far from wide open spaces. We had two dogs at the time, Hosanna, a chow-lab mix, and Shadow, a purebred registered Great Pyrenees. Though not a common occurrence, both dogs escaped from our fenced in yard and went missing one afternoon. Fortunately for us, after futile attempts to find them, they returned home a few days later. Their wanderings had left them hungry, filthy dirty, and suffering from a run-in with a porcupine – ouch! Both snouts were pricked with quills, and it was an arduous task removing them.