One man was always worrying. He worried about his children, his job, his wife, and his health. One day a friend of this man noted that he was extremely calm and peaceful. "Why are you so calm? he asked. "You always worry about every-thing. What happened?" The former worrier replied, "I just hired a man to do the worrying for me." "Well, how much are you paying him?" His friend inquired. "A thousand dollars a week," the man replied. "A thousand a week? You can’t afford a thousand dollars a week." The former worrier responded, "That’s his problem!" (story from Gerald Cornelius)

Wouldn’t it be nice to never worry again? I don’t know if professional worriers exist, but it’s noting to worry about. Facts supplied by Tony Britt say, “43% of all adults suffer health effects due to worry and stress. 75% - 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are stress-related complaints or disorders. Worry has been linked to all the leading causes of death including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis and suicide. An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress related complaints. Stress is said to be responsible for more than half of the 550 million workdays lost annually because of absenteeism.”

Stress is a fact of life, but worry doesn’t have to be married to it. I suppose a major motivation for worrying comes from our belief that if we worry our focused concern will give us a kind of edge over our circumstance. The health facts show the opposite seems to be true. Jesus does not ask us to not worry, he demands it of us for our own good.

Matthew 6:25-26

Jesus says, "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”

This statement I believe was not a license to be irresponsible or throw caution and good sense to the wind. Common sense tells us if we don’t get a job we won’t have money for food and clothes. Clearly, consideration and preparation must play a part in our lives for stability and success. Pining and fretting are a obvious departure from that. This jaunt to worry is where unnecessary energy becomes misdirected and our perspective becomes polluted.

I believe worry becomes a kind of blinder to reality and to one’s best options. The sentiment of worry is a snare not a conscientious act. It is an oomph sucker!

The bills are starting to roll in from my recent tonsillectomy and our insurance is quite inadequate. Sometimes at night I have lied in bed and I thought, “I can figure this out. I can find a way this will work out. But what if I can’t?” You know one of the only things that helps me not spin my wheels and be up all night? Worship. It’s strangely simple. One night I tried it. I tried to think of every name for God recorded in the Bible: Provider, Fortress, Almighty God, Heavenly Father, and so on. I then inadvertently started to praise Him for His character and for His power. Before long I was counting my blessings and not listing my worries. Then sleep was close at hand.

With that technique do I still ever worry? Yes, certainly. But what a fruitless waste of time it is for me; for all of us! Jesus says it won’t add a day to our lives. Science and statistics back that up.

This month let worry be the last thing on your mind! As Psalms 116:7….

Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.