The Spinning Wheel!

For the past few months my laptop, a 2011 MacBook Pro, was getting slower and slower and even beginning to stall. I can’t tell you how many times I had to stare at that tiny colored wheel spinning and spinning and spinning (the warning sign that something is wrong), until I finally had to shut the computer down. Then last week, something new developed. As I would be working on my computer, the screen would suddenly split in half and become filled with horizontal lines.  It was terrible!  I would never know when it was going to happen. I was constantly on edge, afraid that at any moment the wheel would spin, the screen would split, and everything would go dark.   

Some call it, "the pinwheel of death!" 

So, this week it was time for a new laptop, which I did get.  Thus, today I can sit here writing this Pastor’s Devotion without feeling terrified that at any moment the little wheel will start spinning or the screen will split in half and then blank out. Now that I’m sitting at my new computer I’m feeling so much more at ease. (Who knew such could be the case?)

The fact is, in spite of all of our technological advances, nothing lasts forever. That includes not just our computers, cars, or houses, but our own bodies—i.e. our lives. Eventually, the little colored wheel of life starts spinning, warning us that “the house is breaking down” (to quote my 95-year-old Aunt Catherine!).  One’s hair turns gray, joints begin to ache, eyes don’t see as well as they once did, the mind seems to function a bit slower, and the list can go on.  The body is giving us warning signs of our own mortality. And, as it does some people become edgy, fearful, and even angry. Some begin to panic as they desperately seek to turn back the clock. Such need not be the case.

The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 – NIV)

Those of us who have faith—those of us who know the God who created us and saves us—need not fear the spinning of the wheel. We need not become angry and discouraged as we face the slowing down of our bodies and the difficulties that life can bring. Rather, we look ahead with hope, believing that what we see and experience in this life is not all that there is; believing that God has something better in store for us. So, whether we are young or old, we look ahead filled with confidence and faith, trusting God to bring us to that place wherein there is no more suffering, pain, tears, or death—no more spinning wheel! Even as we face the “wasting away” of our bodies, our hearts are filled with hope for we know that God has in store for us an “eternal glory.” 

I want to encourage you today, young and old alike, no matter where you are in life or what you are facing in life, to trust God with your life. No need to fear the spinning wheel!

Have a great day!

Pastor Tim Harris