A recent variation of Matthew 6:33-34, I recently came across, goes something like this;
“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” .
Living in the moment is something I often struggle with. There were times I would get worked up thinking of the chore I had in front of me tomorrow that it would rob me of the joy of that day. When the day came and I had to face all these made up problematic scenarios most often I would find that somehow or another they didn’t manifest in the way I had imagined. As the quote says, “today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.” Little by little I saw that I had to trust in the Lord a lot more than I was.
Focusing our attention to what God is doing right now is a good way to stop worrying about what might come. It brings to mind the story that Luke tells of Jesus’ visit to the house of his friends, Mary and Martha. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet paying attention to him while Martha is busy doing things in the kitchen. She gets frustrated at her sister because she is not helping and asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. “But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things”; Luke 10:41
Now whenever worries start creeping in my mind I try and stop and say a prayer asking God to carry this away.
“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is to small to be made into a burden.” ~Corrie ten Boom
Violet: What are you two standing here looking so worried about?
Charlie Brown: We're afraid of the future!
Violet: Are you worried about anything in particular?
Charlie Brown: Oh, no. We're worried about everything!
Linus: Yes, our worrying is very broadminded! “I’ve developed a new philosophy…I only dread one day at a time.” Charlie Brown (Charles Schulz)
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