Autumn is approaching! Temps are adjusting downward. Stores are gradually filling their shelves with hints of the fall season. My husband and I often visit sports shops, among other places, and they are also revving up to fall!
While we roll out football games each Friday night, we are having talks about basketball season already. These energetic youngsters walk the school halls showing off their prowess and stamina for the game. Cheerleaders shout their rhymes and move to rhythms filled with energy and effervescence. These young people have many aspirations and grand ideas about life. I love it!
Well, I’m not an athlete and certainly not a cheerleader. But I am a Pastoral Counselor who cheers for Christ! Almost every waking hour of my life is centered on the mental well-being of those I provide services to. That includes me as well! My day-to-day work week as School Counselor is spent making sure my high schoolers grow into mentally healthy, productive citizens.
After a while, one realizes that in order to run the race set before him/her, one needs that something extra. In fact, something extraordinary! I can’t rely on my prowess like our young foot/basketball players. Nor can I stand and shout or make a “body pyramid ” like our cheerleaders. But, I can do something very special that God has taught me to do – I can pray and thank Him for His Holy Spirit to fill me to start, continue and finish the journey He has set before me!
Ecclesiastes 9:11 (KJV) says
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”
People who are frequently in my space have heard this statement from me “I’ll get in where I fit in.” Sometimes in life, doors will open while others will be closed. I have learned to accept Ecclesiastes 9:11. It doesn’t matter where you are in your race; time and chance happen to us all. I will get in where I fit. As the Lord provides the plan, I’m going to work the plan the best I can with the Holy Spirit as my Counselor to keep me healthy and attuned to the needs placed before me. I will cheer for the Lord wherever I go, and I pray that you will cheer with me!
Peace to you from the Associate Minister of Mississippi!
