What do screensavers and ancient kings have in common you ask? Well, read on and find out!

I just watched a rat and a pigeon eat a plate of food set on the ground next to some incense sacrificed in front of a little Buddhist shrine. It’s one of those things that make me very aware that I am in a foreign country. Do you ever have those days in which you are content to just sit and observe, noticing little things and musing about whatever pops into your head? Today is that sort of a day for me. I’ve been meaning to blog all week, but each time I planned time to do it, something else came up. Today I’ve finally settled down to do it in a little bakery/restaurant just a block away from the YWAM base. I’ve been sitting here for about 2 hours, observing, thinking, and musing. 

I realized that one of my favorite activities is to watch my screen saver. I know, sounds thrilling, right? My screen saver is just a slideshow of all of my pictures in random order. I sat here watching it and listening to music and was struck by how much I have been blessed. The pictures reveal a cross-section of my life. Anyone who sat and watched the continuous reel of pictures would see glimpses of all of my favorite things. The pictures range from breathtaking landscapes of the Rocky Mountains to the silly faces of my friends, to slums of inner-city Buenos Aires. Seeing these pictures brings back so many memories. Each memory carries with it not only the circumstances surrounding the taking of the picture, but also the things I was learning at the time, and the ways God was revealing Himself to me. 

It reminds me of the Psalms. While I’m assuming King David didn’t have a screen saver, he always remembered the faithfulness of God. In each of his poems, songs, rants and anguished pleas, he always brought it back to that. Although I don’t always feel it now and although I don’t understand what’s happening I remember that God has always been faithful to me. He has always kept His promises and brought every circumstance about for good. Knowing that frees me to enjoy the present. It’s amazing how releasing worry changes everything. If God’s track record is perfect, I have no reason to worry about it changing. Suddenly things that seemed impossible, and circumstances that felt irredeemable don’t seem like that big of a deal. If God’s been faithful in everything else, He’ll be faithful in this. God doesn’t waste time. I might not see the purpose in everything now, but I can trust that He will bring fruit from every circumstance, every situation. Maybe the key is to simply take time to look at pictures more often.