Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
(Matthew 6:26-27)
It was 4 AM when I opened my eyes. The sun hadn't risen yet but I could hear the birds. I'm not sure how they had so much to say before the day even started but it was loud and persistent chatter. I tried to close my eyes but my mind started circling.
How beautiful are the words of Jesus in Matthew 6. Such a simple illustration, yet deeply profound. Why do we worry? Why do we spend boundless hours thinking, re-hashing, and ultimately perseverating? Countless sleepless nights have never led me anywhere good nor have they ever ended with solutions. We become what we think about. Uugh. There's a scary thought. If it's true that we have 60K-70K thoughts per day and 80+% are negative - it's no wonder our lives, and society as a whole, are a mess. Today is a new day.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
I remember my Korean mother was a worry wart. She would constantly spend ceaseless hours in the night thinking of 'what might happen'. Before she died, she exasperatedly said over and over in her Korean vernacular, 'WHY I WORRY?!'
Truth be told - we give others grief while we give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. We only know our motives and we only THINK we know theirs. It's a LIE. Stop. Just stop. The enemy gloats over our anxiety because it incapacitates our ability to focus and work. It steals our joy and it robs God of the glory He deserves and demands through the fulfillment of our God-given purpose.
After all, most things we worry about never happen. One of my mentors said, "worry is just negative prayer". Let's choose today to give all things over to the Lord. Let's choose today to not waste another moment considering "what might happen" or "what we think happened" or "what that person's motives were". Only God truly knows. Let's be like the birds - carefree. Let's choose today to cast our burdens on Him – the only One who knows the beginning and the end and knows the secrets of the hearts of men. It's in Jesus powerful and matchless name I ask these things, amen.