Get Out The Camphor Bottle!
Donald A. Laird, the psychologist, said that whenever his grandmother was over-wrought she would get the camphor bottle and put a little camphor on her fore-head, behind each ear, and on her throat. Then she would sit in her rocking chair, close her eyes, and relax.
Dr. Laird said that the camphor bit was simply a gimmick. Grandma used it as an aid to relax her tensions. Most of us don’t have a rocking chair or camphor bottle handy, but we use sedatives, aspirins, etc. as one of the contemporary remedies to life’s anxieties.
All of this, it would seem is quite unnecessary, if we could just learn some of life’s basic rules.
So perfect have become the computerized lift-off procedures of our modern-day space vehicles, that we sometimes wonder why our own lives cannot run so smoothly? And yet, people are not like rockets and should accept the fact that there are very few times in a person’s life when all conditions are “go”.
No, we must live by an acceptance of our humanness, our limitations, our imperfections. We are tiny specks in an amazingly big universe. We are imperfect, and more than that, we are inclined to self-centeredness, making us sinful and rebellious to the basic rules of life. We cannot make that trip to our space rendezvous, because we are too much “a-go-go” and not enough “go-ye”. Our lives are lived by our feet and our anxieties, rather than by our commitments and our fidelity to our Maker.
The ancient prophet once said, “In returning and rest shall ye be saved: in quietness and confidence shall be your strength”. (Is. 30:15) God is saying to us through the prophet Isaiah, that we should learn to trust in Him more than in our own schemes and defenses.
It is good advice, for so much of our anxiety and tension comes not from actual situations as from nameless dread of situations beyond our control. The unsettled condition of our world is contagious. But we cheat ourselves when we worry, for it does us no good, and certainly no one else. To be concerned…yes! To do what we can…yes! All of this we must do. But beyond that point, let us learn to use either Grandma’s camphor and rocking chair…or, better yet…shift the burdens that are too big for us to God. Then we will find to our amazement that God is able to take that which we have committed unto Him against that day, and care for both us and His world.
Dr. Laird said that the camphor bit was simply a gimmick. Grandma used it as an aid to relax her tensions. Most of us don’t have a rocking chair or camphor bottle handy, but we use sedatives, aspirins, etc. as one of the contemporary remedies to life’s anxieties.
All of this, it would seem is quite unnecessary, if we could just learn some of life’s basic rules.
So perfect have become the computerized lift-off procedures of our modern-day space vehicles, that we sometimes wonder why our own lives cannot run so smoothly? And yet, people are not like rockets and should accept the fact that there are very few times in a person’s life when all conditions are “go”.
No, we must live by an acceptance of our humanness, our limitations, our imperfections. We are tiny specks in an amazingly big universe. We are imperfect, and more than that, we are inclined to self-centeredness, making us sinful and rebellious to the basic rules of life. We cannot make that trip to our space rendezvous, because we are too much “a-go-go” and not enough “go-ye”. Our lives are lived by our feet and our anxieties, rather than by our commitments and our fidelity to our Maker.
The ancient prophet once said, “In returning and rest shall ye be saved: in quietness and confidence shall be your strength”. (Is. 30:15) God is saying to us through the prophet Isaiah, that we should learn to trust in Him more than in our own schemes and defenses.
It is good advice, for so much of our anxiety and tension comes not from actual situations as from nameless dread of situations beyond our control. The unsettled condition of our world is contagious. But we cheat ourselves when we worry, for it does us no good, and certainly no one else. To be concerned…yes! To do what we can…yes! All of this we must do. But beyond that point, let us learn to use either Grandma’s camphor and rocking chair…or, better yet…shift the burdens that are too big for us to God. Then we will find to our amazement that God is able to take that which we have committed unto Him against that day, and care for both us and His world.
posted by Francis Geo. Guither at 9:31 AM
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