After my cardiologist recommended that I take a heart test, I learned it would take days, maybe a week, to get his report. In the meantime, the possibilities kept turning in my mind. Another angioplasty? Open-heart surgery? It began to get the best of me until I remembered my days as a young man with Walgreen Drugstores. Back then, when they had soda fountains, I worked in one as a waiter. I learned to make milkshakes, hot fudge sundaes and tuna-salad sandwiches. After the first few days, I felt at home—except when carrying cups of coffee to the diners. Protocol was to serve it in a dry saucer; spills were poor form. Try as I might, I couldn’t walk across the room without spilling some. It was embarrassing. I would carefully watch the coffee as I walked, only to see it dribble over. The more I tried, the more my hands shook. A co-worker helped me out. “Don’t look at the coffee,” she advised. “Focus on where you’re going. The cup will take care of itself.” Her advice didn’t make sense to me, but in desperation I gave it a try. It took all my willpower to look straight ahead. But to my relief, when I set down the cup, the saucer was dry. By thinking so much about my heart test, I was letting the “What ifs?” spill into my mind. So instead of dwelling on them, I concentrated on my work and the tasks of the day and trusted in God. And like that cup of coffee, the test results came out okay. Lord, my life is never free of worries. Remind me that focusing on the positive cuts them down to size. |
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