Back to the Basics

You have to preach the basics to yourself over and over again.

Photo by Binyamin Mellish

Care if I tell on myself?

My mind has been on overload lately. One friend is dealing with personal issues. Two friends have loved ones who are ill. And I have my own problems. But don’t we all?

I don’t know where the line is regarding how much I can process at once, but I know I crossed it the other day when I got into my car and backed into the garage door (yes, while it was still down).

If my mind is on overload, staying in the present moment is a huge battle for me. I imagine that is just part of the human condition. We allow the cares and concerns of this world to overwhelm us.

Not to sound like a corporate tech guy but what I’m really trying to describe is my mindset when I have maxed out my bandwidth and cannot process new information. As a result, I back into garage doors.

Well, not routinely, anyway. It’s the first time I’ve ever done that. But you know what I mean. I look at my mail and don’t really see it. I might get an email or a text, and not really see that either. That sort of thing.

Why don’t I take my own advice and slow down and live deeper? I can only say that all of us need to go back to the basics sometimes and preach them to ourselves over and over again. So I have been doing a lot of that lately.

---

In the Spotlight:

In this fifty-day devotional, readers will explore what the Bible says about the importance of persevering to the end, suffering well, standing firm, leaving a faith legacy, earning heavenly rewards, striving for unity in the faith, mutually encouraging one another, not growing weary, dying well, and much more.

---

Here are some tidbits you might find interesting this week:

• In the past, I’ve mentioned the Great American Rail-Trail bike path that will go all that way across the United States. Here’s a short video that highlights some of the stops along the way.

• “Any cross but the one I have,” cried one. Surely it would not be a cross if you had the choosing of it, for it is the essence of a cross that it should run counter to our likings. - Charles Spurgeon

• I’m not usually one for excessive celebrations in sports, but this one is pretty funny.

• Recently, I sent out the paid version of this newsletter (I wrote about the demise of the front porch). In it, I shared a link to one of Abby the Spoon Lady’s videos. It’s so good that I thought I’d share it here too.

• “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.” - Martin Luther

---

When Lee isn’t writing essays, devotional books, or Christmas novellas, he is a freelance editor, as well as a freelance journalist who has written hundreds of articles for various newspapers and magazines. He’s also a fan of NASCAR, baseball, tennis, books, movies and coffee shops. If you haven’t read his books, give one a try.