December 2nd, 2010
Memasuki Desember, sejak ku-kecil, selalu ada joy yang tidak dapat digantikan oleh bulan manapun, u know - Christmas' songs and decorations, and buat-ku, yang bikin selalu bahagia adalah persiapan acara Natal, entah itu nari - nyanyi or drama - bagiku itu adalah hal terindah yg dpt kukerjakan dalam hidupku (saat itu)!
Di remaja, ya, masi ada itulah acara Natal - hanya saja lebih sibuk, as in aku jadi bagian yg ngurusin acaranya, ga cuma pengisi acara. Namun bedanya, ada joy yg betul2 joy, karena aku tau siapa yg aku layani (aku sungguh2 mengenal sang Juruselamat yg lahir saat Natal itu ketika remaja).
Masa2 kecil (SD) sampai remaja - adalah masa2 yg sangat teratur - sekolah - ulangan umum - libur natal - sekolah ulangan umum - libur kenaekan kelas dan begitu lagi! Jadi pretty much, kita bisa mengatur kesibukan kita sesuai schedule yg teratur dan tidak berubah itu. Kalau masa2ku sampai remaja - setiap Desember itu diisi dengan, "what kind of Christmas celebration I have this year?", yup ketika SD - dgn alasan hanya tuk hepi2, ketika remaja - dgn alasan it is for HIM! superjoy!
Semakin beranjak dewasa, somehow - Desember not only reminds me of Christmas *JOY*, but also reminds me that "I am getting older" - "udah lewat lagi lah ini setahun" - "aduh saatnya untuk refleksi diri dan cek resolusi taon ini yg sudah kesampean dan belum" en bersiap2 tuk resolusi taon depan. *THINK HARD*
Tahun ini (sesungguhnya bbrp tahun belakangan ini), Desemberku selalu diisi dengan ketegangan - rushing dengan banyaknya hal yg harus kukerjakan dan belum, padahal dah mau kelar ini tahun. *kupikir* Ditambah "perasaanku" ttg kegagalan tahun ini "I don't exercise much!" "I haven't given much!" "I've failed in these areas" and so on...
Apalagi tahun ini, with my sister's wedding that is just around the corner - tiap hari aku bangun dengan "tanggal berapa ini?" (i am counting days)- "Oh dear God, grant me strength and wisdom to deal with my day, it's just too much somehow!" ~~~ en always, I check on my bb - liat any emails or bbm or sms yg masuk, entah itu related dgn kerjaan or tanggungjawab ku yg laen >.< "perlu siapin ini siapin itu!"
Dgn semuanya itu, aku sampe b'pikir - "there's no way bisa ntn Rapunzel 3D - pasti deh, by the time I have time to watch, uda keburu turun itu film - spt Step Up 3D-ku..huhu T_T 'coz i have no time no time! there's no time to hepi2"
And u know what, semua pemikiran itu bikin aku leemeeees dari pagi tuk jalani hari, thinking too much >.<
Dan pagi ini, dateng email dari Proverbs 31 Ministries judulnya "Don't Overthink It" - just by reading the subject, I knew He spoke to me this morning, and yeah - there was a smile on my face.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my life — and I’m running out of time to figure it out. What if I never find it? Will I always be unhappy and unfulfilled? Will I never achieve my purpose? What will God do about that – will He call me a bad servant? But I can’t help it. Why doesn’t He answer my prayers for direction?
Maybe I’m just too sinful or something. I know I should read the Bible more. Is this limbo I’m in some kind of punishment for that? Am I really so much worse than everybody else? Maybe I just don’t have any special gifts or talents. Or they just never got developed. Maybe that’s it, and maybe now it’s too late. So what do I do now? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do …
Does this resemble your thinking sometimes? Perhaps not about your calling, but about finding a spouse, or affording a house, or exercising regularly, or a conflict with your mother or boss. Do you tend to overthink things? To worry and ruminate? To endlessly, passively, excessively ponder the meanings, causes and potential consequences of your problems? Do you dwell on them?
Many of us believe that when we feel down about something we should try to evaluate our feelings and our situation from every angle to attain insight and find solutions to relieve our unhappiness. However, a host of research in the last 20 years has shown that dwelling on thoughts like this creates negative outcomes: it sustains or worsens sadness, fosters negative thinking, depletes motivation, saps energy, interferes with concentration, and typically impairs our problem-solving.
Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky writes: “Although people have a strong sense that they are gaining insight into themselves and their problems during their ruminations, this is rarely the case. What they do gain is a distorted, pessimistic perspective on their lives.” She adds, “You need to free yourself from the clutch of your ruminations – in other words, immediately stop overthinking.”
Based on what he wrote in Philippians 4:6-13, I think the apostle Paul would agree with the professor.
Philippians 4:
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
As we see, in verse six, Paul gives three clear instructions for those of us who ruminate on our problems. He says:
1) do not worry about anything
2) pray about everything
3) thank God for everything
What if today we took this instruction to heart and put it into practice? What if today we decided not to worry about anything? What if when we found ourselves worrying, we stopped and handed the situation over to God in prayer? What if we then thanked Him for taking care of the issue?
In fact, what if we spent most of our mental free-time today thinking about what good care our awesome God takes of us?
What if we counted our blessings and God’s acts of faithfulness today — and again tomorrow and next week too? What would happen then?
Paul says in verse seven, we will begin to experience amazing peace — a kind of peace we can’t even imagine. Peace that makes no earthly sense! This kind of peace is so powerful that it has a protective function on our hearts and minds — which only makes it easier for us to stop worrying and be thankful.
That sounds like a state of happiness to me! So let’s not over-think it today. Let’s not under-pray it either. Let’s actively choose to have a happy, thankful day. And then let’s get up tomorrow and do it again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes -- 2010 emang sudah hampir habis, tapi aku mau isi sisa 29 hari di tahun ini experiencing His amazing peace and joy.
I choose not to over-think things, not to under-pray them either!
I will still make my "to do list" 'til eoy 2010 and my "2011 resolutions" - but I choose not to worry about them, yet to pray about them, and thank Him for EVERYTHING!
So, I can laugh (OUT LOUD) without fear of the future (Proverbs 31:25) hohoho :D :D
* and I guess, spending 2 hours (+1 hour di jalan) saying hello to Rapunzel with my sis won't cost my time much, huh? *
No comments:
Post a Comment