No Worries

If you look my Grandma’s face, there's evidence that I came from her. No, not the same eyes or the nose or eyebrows. The worry lines. Lines that grow over years from moments when we fix our hearts and minds on the heavy things of life. Usually they are future things, but sometimes they are things like I have heard about in the last 24 hours ... relationships, conflicts, separations, illness. Things we often can’t change, and things we can’t foresee. Our concentration and emotions set on these things of life leave lines on our faces. I have them on my face, too. Life starts to draw them on our expressions when we first become aware of our needs and start to try and change our circumstances. It may begin with a lost pacifier, but it grows into apprehension before a test, anxiety over a strained friendship, fear over finding a job, or pressure from high expectations or broken promises. Worry is one of those things that naturally creeps up on us without even trying.

But we aren’t meant to worry. I do it when I take back from God the things of life, as if I can do better than He can. :) It’s a lesson we relearn throughout our years. Matthew 6 is a chapter that gives us a model of how to pray, how to take our needs to God. It reminds me it doesn’t do any good to store treasures on earth and depend on our wealth. If we pray and resist our tendency to depend on things on earth, then we are less likely to worry. The end of the chapter talks about why we don’t need to worry, starting in verse 25. Jesus reminds us that He cares for the birds, He clothes the flowers of the fields, and He even dresses the grass. If He takes care of all of those, and we are so much more precious to Him, then He will surely take care of what we need. We don’t have to worry, and when we do, our anxiety doesn’t change our circumstances, anyway. Instead, God wants us to depend on Him, to talk to Him about our concerns, and to trust Him to meet our needs.

As I think about my life today and about what’s to come, anxiety sometimes creeps in, but God answers my apprehensions as I pray and let Him cover me with His peace. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own,” Matt. 6:34.

Some day every face will have lines on it, and the lines will tell the story of how we lived and what filled our heart and mind during our life. I hope most of my lines will show I experienced peace and trust, instead of worry and anxiety. How is your face today? :)