don't worry

Matthew 6

25 "That is why I tell you don't worry about your life...

     whether you have enough food and drink,

     or enough clothes to wear.

Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?



26 Look at the birds.

        They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns,

        for your heavenly Father feeds them.

        And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?

27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?



  28 "And why worry about your clothing?

Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.

     They don't work or make their clothing,

     29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you.

Why do you have so little faith?



  31 "So don't worry about these things, saying,

           'What will we eat?

            What will we drink?

            What will we wear?'

32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers,

        but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.


33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else,

        and live righteously,

        and He will give you everything you need.


  34 "So don't worry about tomorrow,

         for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

         Today's trouble is enough for today.



Did ya ever have someone say something to you that just changed your life?


In January, 2008, I was at staff prayer @ Christ Chapel Macon.

(We all used to get together @ 8:30am to pray for an hour. Wow! Wish I could do that now!)

Aaron Barth, my mischievous nephew, came in one day on his way to work to pray with us too.

While we were sitting there talking, he said something I'll never forget.

He said something like this...

"The last few days I've been studying the Sermon on the Mount (dan note: that's Matthew 5 - 7).

"I was reading in Matthew 6 that part about the the lilies of the field & the birds in the air.

"Ya know, you really don't have to read all that part of that passage because the whole thing can be summed up in what Jesus says at the very beginning...

"He says, 'don't worry about your life...' "


I was thunderstruck.

Ya see, I'm a worrier.

(yeah, I know, I know - worry is really a lack of trust & faith & a denigration of the basic personhood of God - I get that!)

But those 5 words have been resounding in my head for the last 6 years...

"don't worry about your life..."


Now, there's been a LOT of water under the bridge since then...

     a LOT of changes,

     a lot of moving,

     a lot of hellos,

     a lot of goodbyes,

     a lot of mistakes,

     a lot of good choices,

     a lot of letting go,

     a lot of holding on...

...just a LOT of a lot of things.


Over & over again God has tried to whisper to me, "don't worry about your life..."

Sometimes I listen. Sometimes I worry. But mostly, I worry a whole lot less since that day in January, 2008.


And one more thing...

What would have my life been like these last few years in Aaron hadn't said that to me that day?

We never know what our words will mean to someone else.


(Thanks, Aaron, for being who you are, & sharing your life with me. I love you, gobbs!)