Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.  Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?

 Matthew 6:25

At one point in my life, I worked for an insurance company that had me collecting premiums, selling, and servicing insurance policies in the homes of my clients.  There were many draw backs to the job but one of the benefits is that I got to know many people and in building relationships with them, I was the benefactor of a great deal of life applicable lessons.  One of the best things that was shared with me was this, “There are two days that you should never a lot of time thinking or worrying about, yesterday and tomorrow.

If we think about it, God doesn’t want us to focus on yesterday, we are called to turn away from our past, our mistakes and turn toward God in Jesus and the loving grace offered to us freely.  And our focus should not be on tomorrow, we are told in Matthew 6:34 that “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Consider the person whose family had a history of heart disease.  For more than 30 years ago, every day the worried that they would suffer sudden cardiac death or a heart attack.  Then one morning, while out for a run they were struck by a truck dying is at the scene.

This isn’t a true story, I’m not trying to make light nor am I trying to dissuade anyone from running, rather I am trying to encourage each of us to not waste the moments that we have been given.  Worrying wastes our time and causes us to lose focus on those things that are important, God and the experiences that truly make up our life.

Thankfully, Jesus offered us a way to do away with the worry life brings by simply changing our priorities and focus.  Jesus tells us, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33)

We are all inclined to worry at one time or another and I encourage you to take those concerns to God, sharing your worry and letting go of it.  If you tend to be a professional worrier or going through a particular difficult time create a worry box out of an old shoe box.  Tape it shut, cut a hole in the top and every time you are struggling, every time worry overtakes your focus and throughs, write it out on a slip of paper, talk to God about it, fold it up and place it in the box.  By doing so, you are telling yourself that you can no longer handle it and that it is in God’s hands.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you for the day, thank you for your presence.  To you I give all me worries, trusting that you are working on and in them even before the thoughts formed in my mind.  Hold me firmly and guide me gently in your will and in your ways.  Amen”