Worry — What Is It Good for? Ab-so-lut-ely No-thin’!

Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but worrying is one thing that I do well.  And it’s a skill that I should never have practiced so much.  One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain, and it goes:

“I have spent most of my life worrying about things that never happened.” 

I will abashedly admit that if there is one quote that describes me, then that is it.  And when I was single was never as bad as I am as a mom.  There are days that it takes me over.  If you are a regular reader of my posts, then you KNOW I worry.

As a Christian, I know that it’s a sin to worry.  It shows lack of trust in God to control one’s life.  He wants us to be like the sparrow.  He needs us to remember that we are so small and dependent on Him, while He is so faithful and limitless.  Also, like Jesus, I think that he wants us to live in the moment, to milk each second that we’re here of all that it’s worth.  We can’t do that if we’re caught up in what will happen tomorrow or hung up on the past.  For me, it’s the little liabilities of each day — did I hurt someone’s feelings, how much is in the bank, will so-and-so be upset if I don’t show — that eat me up.  My husband, such a laid-back guy, just laughs at the things that tear my day apart.  He acts like watching me tiptoe on eggshells and frenetically bite my nails is a laughable episode of Monk…and I’m starting to see what he’s talking about.   It’s not a job, and it just makes me preoccupied and distracts me from what is important.  Worry is silly.  It’s like spinning tires.

Actually, I could post countless articles on worry and why I do it.  It IS a VERB.  I am the Royal Queen of Worrydom…but I’m ready to abdicate.  It’s just not worth it anymore.  Does anyone with a life to waste want this crown? <tossing it aside>  (Watch how many young women run for it.  It’s in our nature, you know.) 

Is this what reaching your forties means — that you finally hit your stride, find your pace?  I think that it’s the age when you just learn to let go because you finally realize the futility of trying to control, and that fretting got you nowhere…and now you’re…well, 40.  It’s realizing that you don’t want to waste the second half of your life bogged down in the Stress Swamp like the first half.  It’s realizing that all you can do is to do your best in a given situation, pray about it, learn from it, and move on. And there is a common denominator in every successful, admirable person that I have ever known or read about — and that is that they are present, mentally tuned in, emotionally balanced at all times.  How can one be that with constant preoccupation?  Wow, how liberating.  And this is what God wants for us all along.  Now there’s a pearl.

I found this gem of an article at  http://www.attitudeiseverything.com/success0310.cfm.  Reading it will, sincerely, help if you’re an habitual worrier like me.  If it can put your mind at rest today, make you go take a nap…or just sit, pop your neck, lace your fingers on your head, and take a deep breath for a few, then I have justified getting up this morning. :)  Have a stress-free day…and quit worrying so much!

Pay attention to the quote Keller uses to start.  There’s so much wisdom in it:

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important. - Bertrand Russell

Thank you, Mr. Keller

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• life on the lake, part 1
• Why Should I Worry Now
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~ by Galvanized on January 30, 2007.