Life without worry

Matthew 6:25  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26  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? 27  And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28  And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith? 31  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32  For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33  But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34  "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.

This passage is not an invitation to live without forethought. We are to use our God-given talents and skills to sustain ourselves, clothe ourselves and to provide for our families. This is not an invitation to lazy dependence on the provision of others!

It is, however, an invitation to live without the crippling, life-negating, energy sapping force of worry. Jesus invites his followers to live in a way that affirms our lives as a gift of God. When we choose to believe that God has created us, and that God continues to guide us through each day – then we do not need to “worry about tomorrow”. This frees us to live fully into whatever today brings, and trust that God will be waiting for me when tomorrow arrives.

Simply trusting every day; Trusting through a stormy way; Even when my faith is small, Trusting Jesus, that is all.
	Trusting as the moments fly, Trusting as the days go by, Trusting Him, whate’er befall,   Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Edgar Page Stites 1836-1921

Ordinary 22

44 True Greatness

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 271.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.