DEALING WITH WORRY

In my home office wall I have a small plaque that I got from my mother. It reads (in German), "Das Leben ist am schwersten drei Tage vor dem Ersten," which means, "Life seems most difficult three days before it happens."

Worry affects us all, doesn't it? In some ways I struggle more with it now that I'm retired than before when I had less time to do it. My mother once told me "Worry is concern without faith." She said everyone should be concerned about what might happen, because if we weren't, we couldn't plan things well. But when we think it all depends on us, or if we forget God's place in our life, we can get hooked on worry.

Jesus once said to His disciples, and to us, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about, clothes... or food... or drink? The pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows you need them." Then Jesus gets to the heart of things: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:31-33)

I've been doing spring cleaning in our Colorado house (Some folks do stuff like that when they get worried) and as I sought my Bible for what Jesus said about worry, I discovered I'd put it in a closet. A place for everything and everything in its place, you know! But it was doing me no good in there, so I put it back where I used to have it, by my favorite chair where I can get to it easily.

If we put God first in our lives, or at least get Him out of the closet, worry becomes less a problem. Notice I didn't say it vanishes. Worry is like dust - you're always going to have it around, but you can take steps to get rid of it now and then. Like pray more often. Or worship God each week. Or read the Bible more often. Or take a needed step to lessen a particular worry.

As sinners we can never be completely rid of worry, because do have legitimate concerns about self or family or the state of the world. But Jesus came to forgive our worrying, and to help us live better, and to remind us God always provides. So seek first the Lord, His kingdom, His righteousness, and that other stuff will take care of itself. It's His promise, and He always keeps His promises.

I think I have some more dusting to do!