Worry

We worry a lot in life, don't we? We worry about whether things will look good enough, taste good enough, be good enough. Watching them continue to report on Virginia Tech I heard a lot of worry behind the reports. I know I'm guilty. I worry about doing enough. I worry about my sermons being good enough or about misspeaking while leading worship. I worry that I may have done something wrong while coaching track. I worry that people won't like me. I worry all the time. Now, I'll admit, I've gotten pretty good at covering it and giving the impression that I have few worries in this world. The truth of the matter is I worry all the time, like most people I think.

The devotion today in Our Daily Bread was about worry. The author spoke of a person who initiated a game with some teenagers where whenever they worried they would use the 23rd Psalm and say, "The Lord is my Shepherd and I'm worried to death." The point being that when you have perspective you see how silly your worries are, they seem almost silly. If the Lord is my Shepherd, why do I have to worry? Jesus talked about it a different way in Matthew when he talked about if the lilies of the field and the sparrows are taken care of by God, how much more will God look after you? Maybe all of us could use a brief timeout to get a little perspective on the big picture.

God is in control. What a relief it is.