To worry or not to worry, that is the question

Steve Maraboli wrote in Life, Truth, and Being Free, “Forget yesterday - it has already forgotten you. Don't sweat tomorrow - you haven't even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift - today.” This seems pretty similar to what Jesus told His followers in Matthew 6:34 in the Sermon on the Mount as He said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Make a list of the things you worry about then write next to each one how much control you have over that particular situation. We worry about things like:

•   “What if we get sick” – Everyone will get sick at some point. But we can’t control this and in fact it’s proven that worry will often cause sickness. 
• “What will others think” – Do we have any ability to control what others think? No. We can influence their thoughts possibly but we cannot be consumed with the thoughts of others because they are not living our life; we are.
•  “Will I have the money to …” – The easiest thing here is to either adjust one’s lifestyle or one’s employment. Too often we live above our means, get ourselves deep in trouble, then stress over what we are going to do about it.

We try and justify worry with ideas like: 

• “Worry shows that I care” – No it really doesn’t, because often those we are worried for don’t know it and if they do they really would prefer us not to be ‘in their business’. 
• “If I worry I will never be surprised by anything bad” – This fear of the future stops us from being able to live in the here and now. We are so consumed with what may or may not happen ‘one day’, we lose sight of what is happening today. 
• “Worrying motivates me to action” – Really? If you really look at it worry paralyzes much more than it motivates to act.

So what do we do with worry? How can we combat it?
 

§  The most obvious answer is found in Philippians 4:6-7 where Paul writes, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” So the obvious answer is to bring the cares to the Lord. 

Here’s a few practical things:Live in the present – As Jesus said don’t worry about tomorrow; it has enough cares of its own. Or as Steve Maraboli said above, “Forget yesterday - it has already forgotten you. Don't sweat tomorrow - you haven't even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift - today. Second, embrace uncertainty. Most things in life involve a certain level of uncertainty so don't fear it but rather embrace it. By embracing it you will work to affect the outcome as compared to simply worrying about the 'what ifs'. 

 If you are like me, when it comes to worry I am a work in progress. I haven’t beaten it by any stretch of the imagination but I’m trying more and more to live in the present not the future or the past.

Change, the seasons of life, and dancing

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Helen Keller once said, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road … unless you fail to make the turn.” Change for many people is a “four-letter word” – we resist it, deny it, fight it, avoid it … we do everything but embrace it as a chance for something new tomorrow. Solomon, the wisest man to ever walk the earth according to Scripture, in Ecclesiastes 3 said “To everything there is a season” (verse 1). He adds to that in verse 4 “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Change can often be both a time to weep and laugh. As I transition and experience great change in my life, my hope is that you and I would not spend time weeping over the things that were, that could’ve been, or should’ve been, but that we would take joy in the things that are. Locations change; friendships remain. Relationships change; friendships remain. Vocations and callings change, friendships remain. People fail. Sometimes they fail you or someone else or themselves or God and it is difficult to embrace their actions or where they are in life … but true friendships remain.

The earth has four seasons, and we all tend to have our favorite season. I love both Spring and Fall because they both represent change. In Spring there is new life everywhere and there are a beautiful array of shades of green. In Fall change is very evident as things come to an end. There is a beautiful array of yellows, and oranges, and reds. Fall is such a beautiful season that people will travel great lengths to see the change in person.

As my “season” of ministry comes to an end I think of the second half of verse 4 when Solomon says, “A time to mourn, a time to dance.” This change can play out one of two ways. We can mourn and long for what was or was can dance because of what has been and will be. I would ask you not to focus on what will not be anymore but what will be in the future. Some might mourn because I am no longer their pastor but let me free you to dance. Dance about all of the wonderful things God has allowed us to experience through the years. Dance about all God has planned in the future. I have seen so often in my life that God does not take something, without replacing it with something better. Wait on the Lord. Allow the church to go through the process of searching for the next pastor. And when that pastor comes dance for what will be as you and he walk the seasons of life together.

I was reading about the great painter Gauguin. He at one point in his life was a banker and a fairly successful one at that. But he came to the conclusion that he was no longer a banker; that he was now a painter. He changed course midstream and the world was different because of it. You and I have a right to experiment with our lives. We will make mistakes. At times I think we resist change because of the rigid pattern that is thrust upon us by the expectations of others. We graduate and are then supposed to know our “forever” vocation. Our vocation is fixed, and maybe ten years later you find you are not a teacher anymore or you're not a painter anymore. It may happen. It has happened. I think we have a right to change course. To say we can never change is to limit God in our lives. Peter was a fisherman and Matthew a tax collector yet both experienced midseason changes because of the call of God. The same God who calls one to a certain vocation has the power to release them from that and call them to something new.

Change is not always bad nor is it always good. But here’s what I do know. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Tom