4 Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! 5 Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. 7 Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.
8 From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. 9 Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you.
Reflection
Worry – we know it is not good for us. We know it raises our stress level and our blood pressure. It can cause us to overeat, have trouble sleeping, and make us anxious, unwell, and unkind. So, what is the point?
When I looked up the definition of worry it said allowing one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles, but there is another definition. It is a carnivorous animal “tearing at, gnawing on, or dragging something around with its teeth.” I learned something new, but isn’t that what we do with these thoughts when we worry? We drag them around, we gnaw on them, we can’t put them down.
What causes you to worry? Right now it feels like there are lots of things to worry about. The safety of people who may not agree with or fit into the categories that our government thinks make people acceptable; financial worries as people are losing jobs that they thought were secure jobs for life; worries about the climate, and the future of the next generations. We could go on and on.
We should be concerned about others and the state of this world, but if worry doesn’t help, what are our alternatives? Well, how about prayer? How about doing something for someone else? How about taking a walk or a yoga class or meeting a friend for coffee? All of these things can be helpful and healing. My devotion last Thursday talked about questions we need to have answered. Does asking those questions and getting those answers make us feel less worried or do they just compound our worry as we wonder what we can do to change the current state of affairs?
Well, how about if we continue to worship, we continue to be joyful, we continue to be kind, and we continue to help those in need? We look for the small things that make a difference in the lives of others and in our own lives. We can be proactive about picking up trash, opening doors for people, turning off lights, being conscious of those around us. Our scripture reminds us to focus on thoughts of truth, holiness, justice, purity, loveliness, and things that are worthy of praise.
Many people will do a gratitude journal to turn to those thoughts as opposed to all of the horrible things we could list. I also recently read about doing an action journal – what things did you do each day that helped someone else or that expressed gratitude to another person? Small things can really add up to help us feel like we are doing something in this world to help make it better.
by Janet Waryck
For Pondering and Prayer
What does your worry look like? Are you irritable? Are you hungry? Not hungry? Think about your go-to response. Does it include prayer? If not, please try it. How about also observing our behaviors and working on ways to channel that worry into something productive. Remember those small gestures can go a long way in changing our and other peoples’ perspectives.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to give our worry over to you. In this time when little feels reliable or predictable in our world, help us to know that you never change. Give us a sense of calm to help us know that you are in control, and we can trust that – no matter how we are feeling. Help us to remember to do the small things that can make a difference for us and for the world. Amen.
