Nightmares Nuthin and Cat Food

10.11.12

146.1 1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2 I will praise the Lord while I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. NASB

For the first time in many nights, last night was nightmare night. I’m not sure why, but I was awakened at an early hour and found myself deeply concerned about the future; how I was to live, what would I do; what about my wife. It was an ugly few moments.

I thought about my life and lack of preparedness for retirement (whatever that is) and realized that like many Americans, I got nothin’. And so thinking about nothing made me realize that, like so many times in my life, I need God. I realized I am in a spot at which I feel uneasy: how will I live? What will I do?

So, I woke up about forty-five minutes before the alarm was to go off and laid there for a while thinking about what a guy does with nothing. The more I thought, the more awake I became and we (the cat and I) got up and made or way toward the coffee pot (I drink the coffee, she comes along for the ride).

I found my laptop, waited for the updates to install, checked Facebook on my cell phone, and then when the computer had done its deal, loaded up Bible Gateway (.com) and began my morning ritual by thinking about the future for an unprepared fool who has taken not too much thought about the future until the occasional wake-up call (or nightmare) makes its presence felt. And I read Psalm 146. And was reminded that regardless of what I have or haven’t done about the future, I still have to live in the now, and here is what I am to do:

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord while I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. As long as there is life in my being, I am to sing praises to my God Who – by the way – has promised to take care of an old fool who’s not given much thought to the future except when he wakes up thinking about having to eat canned cat food. (We feed only kibbles to our cat… guess I’ll have to look elsewhere...)

Lord, I don’t know how You’re going to do it, but I am going to praise You and trust in You. The only retirement You have promised is heaven and that is (to my understanding) the beginning of an eternal adventure with You. In the meantime: Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord O my soul! Trust the Lord, trust the Lord, trust the Lord, O my soul! Your promises never fail and if cat food is to be my fare, may it sustain me in these days to praise You and trust You to provide in the uncertain season that approaches.

Lord, this I ask: give me something to do that so consumes my time that I don’t give cat food much thought. May I praise You, serve You, and burn out for You in these last days of mine and prepare for the real retirement – spending eternity with You in an adventure that will never end… I pray these things in Jesus’ Name. Amen.