For pity's sake, don't start meeting troubles halfway. ~ St. Teresa of Avila
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. ~ Robert Fulghum
Matthew 6:25-34
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?' or "What will we drink?' or "What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today." (NRSV)
Having talked yesterday about the problem of excessive, debilitating worry, let me today share some thoughts on how we can keep unhealthy worry from taking a toll on us. In essence, let me say that there are some antidotes to excessive, unhealthy worry.
- Give up fretting over what cannot be changed. Remember the words from The Serenity Prayer... God, grant me the serenity to accept the things that cannot be changed, the courage to change the things that can, and the wisdom to know the difference. The compelling words should be on our lips and in our hearts whenever we find ourselves moving toward unhealthy worry. If we will be sincere and persistent in our desire to let God help us accept what cannot be changed and know how to move forward in faith and hope, then indeed God will help us. Worrying about things that cannot change drains us of our joy and hope.
- Trite as it sounds, try and live one day at a time. In our text we find Jesus saying, So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. In essence, Jesus was saying...try and handle today's challenges; that's enough for anyone. With God's help any of us can handle what today might bring. But worrying about the past or what might happen in the future is more than any of us can bear. Today is challenging enough! When I worry about what happened in the past and worry about what might happen in the future, I've set myself up for emotional duress.
- Realize God is here to help you whatever you face. This truth comes to us from another Bible passage. The Apostle Paul, as recorded in Philippians 4:6-7 wrote: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. What Paul is saying here is that when we lean on God, when we carry the challenges and worries and problems of life before God, we can find a peace which transcends our problems and our challenges. It doesn't mean everything is going to work out exactly as we want, but it does mean that there is profound peace of spirit and strength for the soul which helps us face whatever it is we need to face.
I wish for each of us less unhealthy and debilitating worry and more reliance on God's help to handle past, the present, and the future.
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