What? Me Worry?
People should be educated on the proper ways to worry. As things are, much of the worrying done is fruitless and all sorts of
mistakes are made. The first thing to do is to prioritize the worries so that they can be handled one at a time, beginning with the most important. This will avoid the very common error of attempting to worry about everything at once. The lack of strategy result in frustration and is totally ineffectual for the simple reason that no single worry receives enough attention that it can be dismissed.
Once the priority list is established the next thing to do is to determine how much worry should be devoted to each item so that when it has been sufficiently worried about, it can be stroked off the list. Too many people begin worrying without this step and the result is that they flit about from one topic to another while the item with highest priority is not receiving concentrated effort and may never receive the proper amount of worry.
New worries should be placed at the bottom of the list. It lessens the burden of worrying to know that you don’t have to consider
that item until all the other worrying has been done.
An important consideration is the recent statistic that about three quarters of the things we worry about never happen. This brings to mind Mark Twain’s statement: “I am an old man and have seen many troubles but most of them never happened.” Now this is real cause for alarm. What if we are worrying about things that won’t happen? Well, there is consolation; another statistic states that about three quarters of the things that happen to us are totally unexpected so, of course, we have had no opportunity to worry about them.
It naturally flows, then, that if we continue worrying about things we do expect, this will still be about the right amount of worrying to produce maximum results. One of the great comforts of worrying is that the results are just as good whether the things worried about happen or not.
Sometimes a lighthearted look at worrying will brings reflection about how much we do worry. Not that often? Every day?
A huge crowd had come to hear Jesus. He knew food, drink and even clothing were topics he needed to talk about. For some this worry was part of everyday life.
He acknowledged this but then he reminds them. “Your heavenly Father knows you have all of these needs.” Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable to him than the birds he feeds?”
And clothing. “Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make clothing. If God cares for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. So have faith that he will meet your needs.”
Focus on what the kingdom of God is all about and live righteously and what you need will be provided. Take one day at a time. Tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
At 20 Church we are not without our worries. We try to support each other in prayer and encouragement. A community, caring for one another, helps us get through. If you’re up against the wall and don’t know where to turn. Call us. We’d be happy to help in any way we can.
Come and join us!
Supplemented with a story by Bob Alguire
