How many times have we been told to
not worry? For some of us it might only be every once and a while, before a
major event or prior to stepping out of our comfort zone, but for those of us
chronic worriers, the phrase “don’t worry about it” is a staple of everyday
life. But whether we only worry every once in a while, or worry every
day, the truth is the burden of worry affects each and every one of us.
In reality, life lends itself
to worry. With all of the stresses that we encounter, worrying about what
will happen next or how things will play out may seem like a natural human
instinct. However, sometimes our worries get so out of control they not
only impact us physically by giving us clammy hands, butterflies, and the occasional
case of Restless Leg Syndrome, but they can also manifest themselves in other
ways. Without even realizing it worrying can have effects on us both
emotionally and spiritually.
With so many things going on in our
busy lives, it is very
easy to become distracted. When we worry, the probability of us being
distracted skyrockets. We miss all that is happening now because we are so
focused on everything that might, or might not, happen later. We get so
caught up in our future lives that we forget to live our current ones.
The distractions caused by worry are completely unnecessary though,
simply because the concept of worry itself is not one that is essential in our
day to day lives.
Although worrying is second nature
to all of us, this instinct is really just a mechanism to avoid trusting in
God’s plan. When we trust that things will work themselves out for the
better, that whatever happens was meant to be, and that no matter what God will
always be with us, there is no reason to worry about next week, tomorrow, or
even this afternoon. If we trust that we have been set on the right path
by a skilled guide, who not only knows the path ahead, but who created it, we
can be relived of the burden of worry.
By fasting from worry and focusing
on trust, we are able to better experience all that is on our path. Since
we do not know what we will encounter on the road ahead, we must trust that it
has been placed there for a reason. By trusting that any and everything
we face in our lives is manageable in God’s eyes, we will feel absolutely no
need to worry about what the future holds.
This kind of abundant trust is not
something that will happen overnight. Like a dilapidated and overgrown
garden that takes time to be revitalized, fully trusting in God will take time
to achieve. We must give ourselves some time to weed out the worry growing in
our hearts and plant new trust in its place. Worry, like pesky weeds,
will occasionally creep back into our hearts and try to encroach upon our growing
trust, nevertheless, like a careful gardener we must catch the worry weeds and
take them out as soon as possible. By doing so, we will eventually be
able to have a pristine garden of trust, free of worry and all of the
negativness that come with it.
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 … Therefore do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
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