Worry

In Sunday's Gospel from Matthew, Jesus tells his followers "Don't worry."

It’s easy enough to say, “Don’t worry.” We’ve probably all said this to people at one time or another as they shared some problem with us. And “Don’t worry,” is usually followed by, “It’ll be OK.” But have you ever noticed when people say that to you, it’s not much comfort?

That being true, why did Jesus tell us not to worry? Don’t worry about what you’ll eat or drink or wear he says. Can worrying accomplish anything, he asks—can it make you live longer? And in another passage, he says, “Take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow’s troubles are sufficient for the day.” In other words, take one day at a time. And since worry is always about the future, he again is telling us: Don’t worry. Why? The why is simple—worrying about the future does not impact the future in any way, except to make you less physically and emotionally able to handle it. The “how” is the hard part isn’t it? I know it is for me. And that is actually what Jesus is trying to help us with.

I read a anecdote recently that fits here really well. Most of us are generally familiar with downhill skiing. There are various kinds of downhill skiing and the one thing they all have in common is they are done on an open course. Some have snow humps called moguls to deal with, others have sets of flags called gates that people ski through, but there are no real impediments. But there is another kind of skiing called “tree skiing.” This takes place on a downhill run—in a forest! Trees everywhere. If you hit one of the gates in downhill skiing, it flexes and you just keep going. But if you hit a tree—not so much!

One of the tree skiers was interviewed about this dangerous sport. Here’s what he said: “Look at the spaces between the trees—the exits you hope [emphasis added]to be traveling. Don’t stare at what you don’t want to hit.” I think this is basically what Jesus was getting at. Our loving God will protect us from the “trees” or else help us recover if we hit one. This being true, focus on hope.

Today my older son returned from his tour in Iraq. I can’t say I never worried while he was there, but it was episodic, not continuous. We both kept our eyes focused on the “space between the trees.” And he reached the bottom of the hill.

The Lord’s peace be with you,

Jerry+