Avoid Undue Pressure

Avoid Undue Pressure

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires.

Psalm 37:4

Not only was Molly robbing herself by refusing to enjoy the present, but she was putting undue pressure on a future husband to fulfill her dream of the perfect marriage. In fact, each time she thought the word husband, she easily could have replaced it with the title Mr. Wonderful.

How much better it would have been if she could have embraced each new day and concentrated on being the right person instead of looking for the right person. Molly was obsessed with the hope that maybe today he would appear to secure her future. And at the end of yet one more day in which Mr. Wonderful hadn’t shown up, Molly grew more and more despondent. Soon she began to panic, thinking, What if I never get married? And sadly, any new man who did cross her path would sense her desperation and run rather than give the relationship a chance.

If questioned closely by an understanding friend, Molly might have confessed she was hoping Mr. Wonderful would ring her doorbell, hand her a dozen roses, and say, “Hi, I’m from the Lord!”

It’s too bad she didn’t know Joanne, who lived on the other side of her town house complex. Joanne had jumped at the opportunity to purchase one of the suddenly available units and bought paint—peach for the bedroom, crème and blue for the kitchen—the same afternoon she ordered new drapes. She was looking forward to getting married someday too, but she wasn’t about to lose today’s opportunities by waiting for tomorrow. And if Molly had tried to explain why it was important to sacrifice present joy for future hope, Joanne would have been astonished. To her that would have been like not breathing today just because she wanted to be breathing tomorrow. —SANDRA

Lord, you know I want to be in control of today, of the future, of those around me. And if I’m honest, Lord, I wish I could order you around too. Help me to stop seeing you as some celestial bellboy whose job is to serve me. Help me to seek your face and receive your instructions for today. And help me to entrust my future to you.

Not getting what you want is not a tragedy. Getting what you want and realizing it wasn’t worth the trouble is the tragedy.

—JEANETTE CLIFT GEORGE, FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF A. D. PLAYERS, A PROFESSIONAL CHRISTIAN THEATER ORGANIZATION