While making my morning brew, the day’s lineup swirled in my mind. “Okay, I need to do this first to make room to get this accomplished. Then, I need to make sure I get to this and then that,” all of this I was contemplating before the last drip of coffee left the filter. The question, “How am I supposed to do this?” landed with a twinge of anxiety and annoyance.
The coffee might not be dripping, but your toddler’s tears might be streaming down their cheek. You try to console them, but find a dead end at every corner. “How am I supposed to do all of this?” reverberates in your chest. Circumstances pile up slowly or catastrophically, and the weight lies heavy. The question hounds inside: “How am I supposed to do all of this?” In these moments of frustration, pain, and irritation, it is interesting to see who we default to. For me, I was the center of the solution. I sought peace by running through all the potential plays, but it only provoked more unrest in me.
Yet as quickly as the questions come, God’s words provide the answer: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope…” (Lam. 3:21). We must think and call Him to mind, not ourselves. We rip our gaze off ourselves and cast it to the Lord. We acknowledge our need by going to Him. We do not find hope in our character, but in the Lord’s: “…The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam 3:22-23). We are not designed to live off of future graces, but on what He has supplied today. The question “How am I?” is best answered when we reverse it and place God as the subject. “I am how” is where our hope, peace, and comfort lie.
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