The Bible is fully of practical advice. This is the place where I focus my faith. Being in the season of Easter there is a lot of the talk of the supernatural and of Jesus dying and rising. Defeating death and being a savior for all humanity, and if we’re being honest I don’t know what any of that means.
On the other hand when Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:34, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” That is easy to understand. Same with Paul telling us not to let the sunset on our anger and several other instances of the Bible giving good practical advise.
In the same way the Bible tells us not to worry about the future it also tells us not to worry about the past. Jesus tells us that God is the God of the living, not the dead. We should be thinking about the here and now. This is a recurring theme throughout the gospels. In The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Jesus tells us to be reconciled with our brothers and sisters and in Luke Jesus tells us the Kingdom of God is at hand. We are meant to live in the here and now. To focus on the present and take one day at a time.
I am finding it difficult. I feel pulled in two directions. The worry for the future and the pull of the past. With being put in charge of my father’s estate and as a by product the family finances the worries of the future are finding me. Bills upon bills upon bills have landed at my doorstep, and because of this I have gone looking for the troubles of the past.
Just yesterday I was walking back to my car after visiting my mother and I had the thought of if my father bought a $300K Porsche with his line of credit and then sold the car but was leasing the BMW and Audi until he bought them out with the money from selling a townhouse then where did the money from selling the Porsche go?
I have spent far too much time already combing through bank statements to try and put together the financial disaster of the last year to concern myself with this, and I shouldn’t. The worries of today are enough. Just as I shouldn’t borrow worries from the future I shouldn’t borrow worries from the past.
It all makes it make so much since why some cultures have year long periods of mourning. However we don’t live in those cultures and the taxman and bill collectors have no time or understanding for periods of mourning.
I realize all these thoughts and worries are processing, but I am grateful. I told my friend yesterday that this blog must be insufferable as I am complaining about buying Lexus’s and managing a couple million is assets. I am lucky. The legacy of my father has set me up for a good future. I would just appreciate a little time to deal with the gaping hole that has been left in my life instead of being piled under a financial situation I didn’t create. But I don’t think the property tax department would listen if I told them I am just not in the mood right now, or at least buy me a nice dinner beforehand.
David Huzzard Writes 