Lost in the Mire of the Dire
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He pulled into the garage and scraped his vehicle on the garbage can leaving a scratch on the side of the vehicle. She thinks if she surrenders trying to control everything something bad will happen because when she gives up control bad things always happen. He messed up again and wondered why he could not do everything right. She tried to take care of all the details but forgot something which would have made the day so much better. She made the chili and when she put the chili powder in, too much came out. How do you make it less spicy? Oh, the bad things that keep happening. Getting lost in the mire of bad.
Oh, you could go on and on with examples of the bad things that happen in daily life. Usually not life altering circumstances every time. Just mess ups and frustrating actions that influence the attitude toward the day. It is distressing to experience the consequences of the lack of thought and focus that lead to less than perfect days. You mess up. You make mistakes. You do things wrong. Life does not turn out like you had hoped and planned. Then the focus becomes on all that went wrong and you become upset for not paying closer attention or not being smart enough to prevent the problem or bad outcome.
You get stuck in the mire – the distress or even embarrassment of what you did or did not do. You have a difficult time letting go of your mistakes or situations that were not handled well. You may ask God to forgive you, but there is no forgiveness of yourself for not being perfect. You develop a view of not being good enough and feel you always mess up.
Other times you focus on the bad and pile up the negative incidents and events. Soon all you see is the mire of constant distress. You ask, “Why do bad things keep happening to me? When will I get a break?” Stop putting it all together and ruining the entire day. When something happens that irritates and frustrates or was just bad, tell yourself that was just one incident. Oh, well, it happened. You cannot change it, but it does not have to destroy your mood for the day. Release it.
When all you see are the problems, hurts, sadness, and negativity of life, you get pulled into the mire. You are stuck in a place that seems hopeless and impossible to navigate. You are cast down without someone or something to pull you out of the mud that keeps you going in circles and making no progress.
Begin looking up and changing your focus. Yes, life messes up. Mistakes are made. People hurt people and make accusations. You are judged unfairly. You do things without thinking them through and live out the consequences.
Life changes. Circumstances happen that are out of your control. It is accepting that life happens and how you handle it is up to you. You can remain stuck in the pain and anger. Or you can talk with God and get out the anger, frustration, and hurt and release it. Be still. Breathe in and breathe out your feelings. Be calm and focus on what is good and count your blessings.
No easy task to change a pattern of life but it sure is worth it. Situations and people need not control your life. Sure, it creeps in at times, but then you need to surrender it. Focus on the beauty of God’s creation, and look up more. Look for angel wings in the clouds, the beauty of the blue sky, the trees, and feel the refreshing breeze. Slow down instead of getting caught up in the things that have no eternal value. The mire of life is not dire. Not urgent, awful or terrible. Not all of it anyway.
Elaine J. Sturtz
Living In the Different
