Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ – 1 Peter 1:13
Sometimes the most encouraging relationships aren’t formed with other humans, but with different species—especially when sharing a similar burden. This was the case when a black-and-white magpie entered the Bloom family’s life. Discovered by Noah Bloom, the eldest of the three sons, the injured magpie was granted a temporary stay to recuperate and foster its strength to fly. However, the bird, named Penguin, soon became a therapeutic distraction for Sam, thereby shifting her mind from herself toward caring for the unofficially newest Bloom family member.
Too often, the greatest obstacle to handling what you can’t control is managing what you can control: your mind and the thoughts you allow it to think. Elijah’s mind and the thoughts he allowed to influence him had been his greatest opponents—not Jezebel’s threat of death or his inability to eradicate idol worship. Elijah had lost his fight and used those events to convince himself that he was better off dead. Elijah’s depressive state overshadowed his knowledge of God, a condition that needed to be healed before he was given his next vital assignment.
You don’t have to have physical limitations to be impaired; negative emotions are just as debilitating. Healthily releasing those feelings strengthens your resolve for the remaining battle.