Worry - who me?

Recently, I started preparing a stew for the small group scheduled to meet at our house for a Bible study.  Fresh thyme and parsley from my small herb garden were just the things I needed to enhance the flavors of the stew mixture.  Getting my kitchen scissors from the drawer, I headed for the herb patch.  After snipping what I needed, I made my way back to the door.  Hearing some chattering, I looked up to see the source of the sound - a pair of woodpeckers perched on a power pole near my house.  Stopping to gaze at them, I noted brilliant red feathers adorning the head of the male.  He was breathtaking!  I had not seen one this close before. 

I love to watch birds, but my birdfeeder now sat in the garage instead of the yard.  Lots of birds had visited the feeder this year, but an unauthorized visit from a neighborhood cat minimized the bird population by one.  The cat did what came naturally to him, but I was angry because I loved watching the birds feed.  Not wanting to subject the birds to another attack, I made the choice to store the feeder for awhile.

But the woodpeckers brought back memories of the fallen bird, and I remembered the verse that says “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one of them is forgotten by God…Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows,” Matthew 6:6 NIV. 

Worry comes in many shapes and sizes.  God’s word tells us we are not to worry about our lives; what we will eat or drink, or even the clothes we will wear, Matthew 6:25-27.  Yet many times I find myself worrying.  I come by it naturally.  My mother was a worrier before me, and my grandmother passed it on to both of us.  In my mother’s words, ‘I can’t help it.  I don’t know how not to worry.’ 

As I pondered those words, I realized they didn’t fit with what I perceived God’s Word telling me.  The Greek word for worry is merimnao which means to divide into parts.  According to one of the commentaries, the word suggests a preoccupation with things causing anxiety, stress and pressure.  When we divide something, it makes more of it, or multiplies. 

Another sister word to worry, is to fret.   In H. Norman Wright’s devotional, Quiet Times for Couples, he gives the definition of fret as to eat away, gnaw at, worry, or wear away.  His superb example is a beaver who gnaws at trees.  “The tree is chewed away at its base until it eventally falls to the ground.  Fretting can have the same destructive effect on you – eating at you until you fall apart physically, emotionally, or spiritually.”

I have learned that when I worry or fret, I need to go to God’s word which is the ultimate answer for any problem I may have.  The list below from Psalm 37:1-8 reveals God’s steps for letting go of worry.  

° Do not fret.

° Trust.  

° Delight.

° Commit.

° Be still and wait patiently.

° Do not fret.

He starts by telling us not to fret, and ends by giving the same command.  Everything else is sandwiched between; trust, delight, commit and wait.  In other words, the more I give of myself to Jesus, the more of himself he’ll give to me.  As I draw closer to him, my focus is taken off my troubles, and forces my attention on the God who controls the universe.  He is concerned about every problem I face - no matter how small or large - and by trusting him, it changes my life!
Worry – who me?  Well, occasionally.  I’m still human.  But although I still struggle with it from time to time, most of the time I realize I can help it!  I hold my cares up to Jesus and ask him to take them.  As I draw closer to him, I bask in his love, wisdom and peace.  And, ultimately, I stop worrying.