Mike Walsh

After being in Wyoming almost 19 years as the pastor at Glad Tidings Church, we have seen the seasons come and the seasons go many times. 

My favorite time of year is the spring, because we have three good seasons before winter comes. I love it when the farmers start preparing for another growing season. They prepare the soil, they get it ready by tilling and fertilizing the ground and whatever else they need to do. 

The soil doesn’t seem that significant, but it is one of the crucial things needed for good plants to grow. For us as people, our hearts and minds are the soil where our whole life flows from. In the day that we live in, we have so much information coming at us from every direction constantly. 

Some of the things that we get bombarded with really aren’t a help to us, but a hindrance. We can get overloaded with too much coming at us from every direction and sometimes the things that come at us pollute the soil of our hearts and minds. They can cause us to feel anxious, worried and concerned about every part of our lives. Too much Facebook and too much YouTube can be a problem for us. There is so much going on in our world right now with the war and the mid-terms that we can feel the pressure of it all. 

The Apostle Paul gives us some very good insight and help in the book of Philippians chapter 4. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phillipians 4:6-7 NIV)

Whenever I read these verses, I always think, “feeling anxious is not a switch that we can just turn off” — it’s not that easy, sometimes we don’t know why we feel the way we do. Paul goes on in this chapter to give us the how to manual to keep ourselves from being anxious and upset.  He says in Verse 8, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things."   

Paul is telling us to guard our hearts, don’t let the wrong things come in. Don’t allow poison to come into the soil of your heart, poison that will destroy the good things that God wants to do in you and through you. My prayer for you is that God will use your life in amazing ways. We all need to be a light to those who are hurting all around us and we can’t afford to let anything come in and steal our influence. God wants to give you peace!

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

(Mike Walsh is the pastor at Glad Tidings Church.)