We have peace with God through Christ Jesus, He is guarding our hearts and minds. Furthermore, not only do we have peace with God, but the God of peace Himself is with us. What can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Nothing! Ponder these things my friends.

Anxious, Angry, and Annoyed. These are common responses to the question, “how are you today?” Perhaps the frustration is with the constant barrage of numbers and images tallying up the tragic loss of life. Perhaps the conflicting information and overwhelming amount of data about the latest crisis leaves you overwhelmed and bewildered. Maybe the anger comes from the conspiracy theories being peddled with respect to who is doing ABC or who is not doing XYZ—and why? Perchance the Deja-vu (Ground Hog’s Day) experience of today being like yesterday, like last Thursday, or like five Tuesdays ago is driving you and others in your household a bit loopy. Possibly you are bored. I am still haunted and humbled by my granddad’s corrective to me as young boy, “Chuck, only boring people get bored…how can you be bored with so much to see, so much to do, so much to read, so much to explore?” I will leave it to your good judgment to ponder and process grandpa’s words and wisdom.

In Philippians 4 Paul calls the anxious, attacked, and annoyed church to prayer, as well as to ponder and practice certain things. Let us take a few moments and ponder what the Apostle calls us to ponder. Paul writes, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8—ESV)

May I ask how many of our daily data diets consist of the ingredients mentioned in this list? Some—not all, but some—of our anxiety, anger, and annoyance is due, I suggest, to an imbalance in our information and entertainment consumption. Refocusing our attention and affections may just help to calm some of our anxieties, rebalance our emotional scales, and reorient our hope.

The repetitive nature of Paul’s ‘whatever’ invites us to ponder the known universe. Seriously, the known universe. Paul’s list is not meant to be exhaustive, but exemplary. Search the universe to find these things, these excellencies. These things are not exclusive to Christians or ‘Christian’ resources. Sadly, sometimes there is a lack of truth, beauty, and excellence in things labeled ‘Christian.’ Paul is calling us to a much broader exploration. We are called, gifted, and equipped to consider truth, beauty, purity, and love wherever they may be found. Certainly, our explorations are to be shaped, guided, and informed by the Scriptures, but that is not the whole realm of our pondering. We may find these things in the realm of nature, revelation, relationship, music, athletics, science, literature, film, culinary arts (the list goes on)—whatever is…

This is really a call to wisdom, discernment, contemplation, and exploration. Ponder these things! It reminds us of the Sage in wisdom literature imploring us to ponder the ant, the sluggard, or the drunkard. Certainly, there is something to learn and gain by pondering and then acting upon these reflections. Or ponder Wisdom in the flesh, Jesus, calling upon his disciples to consider the lilies of the field, the sparrow, or the wise and foolish builders. What does our Lord want us take away from this wondering I wonder? Let us not simply read the passages, but practice the exhortation. We can do this on a walk, through reading a book, by watching a movie / program, by dialoguing with others and more. Take your time and ponder the ant, sluggard, lilies, bird in flight, the constellation Orion, the Orca etc. Sometimes we will find a sober and sad end to our ponderings, sometimes we will be delighted with laughter, sometimes we will be awestruck by beauty, sometimes we will be perplexed. However, my guess, hope, and prayer is that we will be less anxious, less angry, less annoyed, and less bored by the immediate.

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