Worry is a wasted emotion

I come from a long line of worriers.  Granny Tucker worried a lot about the weather--she would hover between the TV and the window when a storm came up.  I never noticed her worrying about her income ( which was social security and very minimal).  My mother worried about daily things--food, shelter, and money--for good reason.  Our family income was quite low.  However, I do not remember going hungry or naked.  My mother taught me how to bite my nails.

I have spent my life trying to avoid worrying, often failing at the task.  Here is the admonition of Jesus  on the problem in  Matthew 6:25 and following: ...  (live) a life of God-worship.  It follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion.  There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.  Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God.  And you count far more to him than birds.  Has anyone by fussing in front of a mirror every gotten taller by so much as an inch?  All this time and money wasted on fashion--do you think it makes that much difference?  Instead of looking at fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers.  They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it?  The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.  If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers--most of which are never even seen--don't you think he'll atend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?  What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving.  People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.  Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.  Don't worry about missing out.  You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met..  The Message

Here are some old adages I keep alongside the Matthew verses:

Whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger.
However good or bad the situation, it will change.
Always choose laughter over tears, life over worry, optimism over pessimism.
Don't worry, be happy. That is easier said than done, but  why waste your life in paralysis when you can spend it dancing?
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Acknowledge him in all your ways and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:6

Blessed are the peacemakers

Our class lesson hits the above Beatitude this week. Peace is a wide-ranging subject, and one with which many Christians struggle. By the way, this beatitude is not about peace-keeping; it is about having peace in one's life and helping others to have it too.
Angela Thomas says that before we can become a peacemaker, we must become a peace processor. That is, we spend time thinking about it, reading about it, and praying about it. "To become a woman of peace, you have to drag your dehydrated heart into the presence of God and ask him for his peace." Phil. 4:5-7 says the same thing. In the same verses, The Message defines peace as a "sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good." And when we sense this, that will settle us down and displace worry.

I am not a pessimistic person, but I do struggle with anxiousness. I struggle with wanting to know outcomes before they appear--with impatience. My prayer is, "Lord, I want to know how this comes out, and I want to know it NOW." But Jesus says in John 16:33, "In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Now if I could just remember that when the ogre of worry appears.