A more appropriate title would probably be about birds and flowers, but that's okay…
Anyways, this morning I was reading in Matthew and came across Matthew 6:25-34. In this part of the bible, Jesus is just going through a bunch of teachings and this specific section is titled “Do Not Worry.” Well, it’s pretty self explanatory and if you grew up going to church I’m sure you’ve sat through a sermon on this passage or you’ve at least been told not to worry because you’re more important than the birds.
These eleven verses start out by telling you not to worry about what you’re going to eat or drink. Then Jesus states how God makes sure the birds have enough to eat and obviously we are more important to God than the birds so we have no need to worry about what we’re going to eat or drink.
Then it goes on and says not to worry about what clothes you have. God dresses the flowers more beautifully than anyone and once again, we are more important than the flowers. This is all good in theory, but there are people who starve to death and there are people who can’t afford anymore than the holey, worn out clothes on their backs. And this year, I’ve unfortunately seen how true that is.
But I don’t want to sit here and talk to you about all the sin and suffering in this world because I don’t know all the answers or reasons for things.
But what I do want to talk to you about is something I know very well: My life.
I grew up with more blessings that I could count. Not only do I have the most amazing family, but I had all the food and clothing I needed. Nevertheless, I am a worrier. Growing up, I worried about school and getting the highest A possible. I worried so much that one day before a big test my dad came into my room and told me it’s okay to fail. How many parents have to tell their kids that it’s okay to fail?
In college, I would get nervous before I went to talk to my professors. When I went to ask one of my professors to be my advisor for my senior project, I was too nervous to go in his office. So I stood outside his door with my best friend until she told me how ridiculous I am and literally pushed me into his office and walked away.
Those are just two examples of ridiculous things I worry about and let me tell you there are a lot of others.
Even though I’ve known about this passage for as long as I can remember, it never seemed to help. I mean the first ten verses are great. Comforting and helpful, but that last verse. Verse 34:
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself…”
Sounds good so far, but then it continues on to say:
“…Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Oh great. So I shouldn’t worry about tomorrow because that’s going to take care of itself, but today, oh today has all kinds of problems. I remember sitting at home one night when I was younger worried about some test and my dad came in and quoted that verse. It helped with the anxiety about my test, but my mind wouldn’t shut up. I was about to go to sleep, but then I realized today had problems of its own. I didn’t run into many troubles earlier that day, so in the 2 or so hours left in the day something troublesome surely would happen. I took that verse as “I’m not allowed to worry about tomorrow, but I can’t worry about today all I want.” And that’s what I do. Worry, worry, worry.
Fortunately, I get more and more worry free as I get older. I like to think it’s because I get closer and closer to God, but I suppose I’ll find out if that’s true once I have kids (I’ve heard they bring about a lot of worry).
I don’t really have anything super profound to say in this blog, I just thought I’d let people know that for now, I’m not going to worry about what I’m doing when I get back from the race because God’s got it all taken care of. And as for today, I’ve got a bench and some desks to build!
Me, Ben, and Austin at our newly made benches and desks
