First Baptist Church of Herndon

Too much of a good thing!

Linda Soller | Apr 22, 2013

We began our wellness program at work a couple of weeks ago. Each year I participate in the walking segment of the program. On the kick off day I laced up my sneakers, I mean walking shoes, and headed out to the trail. It was a sunny, cool, windy day. When I returned to my desk I was sneezing and my eyes were watering. I thought to myself, all this fresh air is gonna kill me. My allergies kicked in immediately. Sad, but too much of the lovely spring air and breezes is not a good thing for me.

Along a different line, April has been a crazy travel month for me. I like to travel, but I don’t remember ever having so much travel crammed in to such a short amount of time. I’ve been doing fun things like attending weddings, and going to a conference at a nice location and my travel isn’t over for the month. I am looking forward to a second wedding and a family celebration.  Last fall I thought April was shaping up to be busy but exciting. As I approach the end of the month the inside of an airplane is looking less appealing. I would not be unhappy if I didn’t have to drag my suitcase out for a while, and the chores that I do routinely are even less fun when they have piled up in my absence. Yes too much travel, even fun travel, is not such a good thing for me.

If I continued along this line of thought I might conclude that too much of any good thing is bad. I guess that could be true in the extreme. For the sake of argument, consider faith. Faith is a good thing. Can you have too much faith? I guess you could if you ignored the good sense God gave you to deal with the everyday world. Say you claimed great faith then walked out in to traffic. I don’t think that is having too much faith. I think that would be you testing God. Faith can get you through the most difficult times, it can help you help others, it can bring clarity when faced with tough decisions, and it can bring you closer to God. But even with mountains of faith there must be reason which reminds you that you will not always get what you want. With that in mind it is hard to think of having too much of a good thing like faith.

Exercise is a good thing, fresh air is a good thing, but I need to remember that combining two good things on a windy day without taking my allergy pills may not be such a good thing for me. Weddings are wonderful. Opportunities to learn and share in a great location? Well, they are gifts. Family celebrations are times and memories to treasure. I need to remember to enjoy these good things when I can even on a tight schedule.

So where does this leave us? Can there be too much of a good thing? I guess it depends on what you consider to be a good thing and how you deal with it when it comes along. The jury is still out on some good things, like the Cherry Garcia ice cream in my freezer. I am pretty sure I could get too much of that.  As for me I am only really sure that there can’t be too much faith; that is one good thing I am continually trying to increase in my life. 

Have a great week :o) Linda