Troubled Heart

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A few years ago my sister left her then three year old son in the care of our younger brother. She had some business to attend to in Kingston, Jamaica and opted not to travel with her son. A few hours after her departure my brother, for reasons only he can give, decided that he too was going to Kingston and took my nephew along. My sister would later learn about his actions after returning from Kingston herself. 

She immediately dialed his cellphone and he answered and told her he was on his way home. He said he would arrive within the next 30 minutes. However, an hour he hadn’t arrived home. She dialed once again. Only this time there was no answer and the call went straight to voicemail. His phone battery had died, but there was no way for her to know that.

As night fell with still no signs of neither him or her son, she was becoming frantic. At 6:00 p.m. he was not home; 7:00p.m. came with still no sign of him. Soon it was 8:00 p.m., then 9:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m. and still there was no word.

By this time my sister was in a state of panic. She was frantically calling everyone she knew who either lived or worked in Kingston trying to find out if they had seen or heard from him. However, all her efforts proved futile as each call she made she got the same response. No one had seen or heard from him. Though exhausted and hungry she was neither able to eat nor sit. Her emotions ran wild as she became angry, disoriented, fearful, fretful, nervous and panicky. What was she going to do? She had no idea. All she could do was sit by the gate and hope for the best.

Waited she did because it wasn’t until a few minutes before 11:00 p.m. that my brother finally turned up with my nephew, fast asleep in his arms.

In the book of John 14:1 Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled…” He spoke those words to us as a means of sparing us from a life of emotional turmoil. When we live a tumultuous life it, among other things, will:

1. Shorten life expectancy

2. Rob us of the joy of living

3. Affect our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health

4. Prevent us from fostering rich and lasting relationships

Jesus knew this all too well and so he admonished us not to worry. Of course not everything in our lives will go smoothly. Nonetheless, we can trust Jesus to make things better for us. The same way he provides for the sparrows and cloth the lilies of the field He will, in like manner, take excellent care of us. Certainly life is filled with its fair share of challenges, but we need not fret. Rather we should seek to give praise and give thanks.

Additionally, we may also apply the instruction of Paul in the book of Philippians 4:8. The apostle declared, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Let’s elevate our thought process so as to lead a more enriching and fulfilling life each day.