Jenks Church – As you read the paper or listen to the news, our world is in turmoil. From Iraq to Congress, from rising gas prices to everything else going up, from not enough school days and hours to abuse in day care centers, not only our world but our very lives are in turmoil. This turmoil can cause great anxiety and worry.
 
J. Arthur Rank, an English executive, decided to do all his worrying on one day each week. He chose Wednesdays. When anything happened that gave him anxiety and annoyed his ulcer, he would write it down and put it in his worry box and forget about it until next Wednesday. The interesting thing was that on the following Wednesday when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that had disturbed him the past six days were already settled. It would have been useless to have worried about them. –Author and Source Unknown.
 
Jesus said it this way … “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?
 
All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.
 
Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. “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. (Matthew 6:25-26 The Message)
Perhaps as we face life together, we need to develop a “worry” box to drop our stuff in? The reality is what “seems” big right now … often decreases in size tomorrow. With school beginning … kids going off to college for the first time … life’s transitions hitting us in the face, may we take the encouragement from our Lord Jesus Christ and remember “God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
 
Take a deep breath and allow God to calm your soul.
 
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