Playing Catch with God

We have many expressions in our language that link life with throwing and catching.

We "juggle" our schedules.

We "try to keep all our balls in the air".

And life often "throws" something at us.

The question is, when something is thrown at us what do we do with it?

Let's talk about trouble or pain or difficulties, when suddenly we find them "in our court" what is our response?

Scripture gives a very clear answer in I Peter 5:7 where we are told we are to be "casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you." The whole idea is that of tossing whatever life has thrown at us, back to God.

I notice in my life, as I've gotten more experienced (shall we say instead of older) that some of the things "thrown" my way are things I've had to deal with before. I've also found that when I've eventually stopped worrying about them and trying to solve them myself and tossed them back to God that His hands are capable to catch and handle them easily.

It makes me wonder, since God's plan for our life is for us to be more like Christ, if some things are repeatedly thrown to us just so that we will become more adept at tossing them back to God.

When trouble comes our direction are we getting quicker about casting our cares on Him?

How long does it take to let go of what's just come your way and turn it over to Him?

There's the simpler stuff of our lives which is easier to toss back, like those brightly colored big rubber balls; but then sometimes trouble comes at us like a line drive and knocks us flat on our backs with the really hard or unexpected. After we've pulled ourselves back to our feet, how long do we toss that ball back and forth in our hands, worrying, wondering, mulling, obsessing...?

Could it be that some of the other stuff was merely warm up for this hard thing we now toss about in our hearts?

Can God really be trusted that He knows what is happening to me and that He cares about this in my life?

Do the eyes that see the sparrow fall, care that my life feels as fragmented as a window that has had a baseball thrown through it?

There is an amazing verse in Psalms that says "The Lord's delight is in those who honor him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love." (Psalms 147:11). We actually please our God when we give back to Him those things that trouble us because we have hope and confidence that He is able to take care of them and of us.

But you must recognize that tossing a ball is an extremely personal thing, no one can do it for you; you must do it yourself.

So what balls are currently in your court?