“Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your lifespan?”
What is it about Mondays that have me posting quotes about not worrying?!
I mean it’s summer after all! Isn’t summer supposed to be free of worry?
I guess. That’s what they tell me. But truth be told, worry and anxiety and stress don’t always care what season of the year it is.
They come any old time they want.
Just like the broken washing machine staring at me in my laundry room right now. I imagine it saying: “I know you didn’t expect me today. But I’m just keeping it real, Gretchen, just keeping it real.”
Worries, anxiety, and broken washing machines pop up when you least expect them to. You get an email or a text message or have a kind of off conversation with a friend… or you dream some stupid, off the wall nightmare that had like one tiny bad thing that could possibly happen in real life… and there it is. That pesky knot in your shoulders, that boulder in your stomach.
Even smack in the middle of summer.
Maybe I’m the only one who needs this quote right now. But I’m guessing not. I think there are people everywhere worrying about all sorts of stuff – serious stuff and not-so-serious stuff.
I’m guessing there are people everywhere just like me that need to stop and breathe for a moment and repeat these words right now:
“Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”
I’m guessing Jesus wasn’t saying don’t plan when he uttered these words. I can imagine Him saying in parentheses for all those A-types in the back: “Go ahead and make those lists, do the laundry (if your machine works), prep for those meetings.”
He’s thrilled if you are preparing (except maybe if it’s always for the worse outcomes). He just wants to give us all permission to let go of the worry that keeps us from smiling and laughing and loving and living.
I hope if you needed these words today that you found them. I pray for you and for me that we may indeed be like the birds of the air who are given all they need by the God who loved them into being.
May we trust in God’s grace.
