Luke 12:22-31
Last week I was riding my brand new bike for a pleasant Sunday afternoon ride. I had gone to Mass, visited my grandson (and my daughter and son-in-law) and now was at mile marker 4.87 on an intended 12 mile loop around the surrounding farms. Then it happened, I saw a car coming at me and wham, down I went, bike crumpled. I was blessed to see him coming so I had a chance to dive off at the last second. Still I hit the road hard on my hip and lay there in the middle of the road. I will confess to you all that the words out of my mouth were not saintly. I really screamed at the guy but that's not the point. I was actually OK and that is paramount.
What could have happened though was that in the blink of an eye at mile mark 4.87, my life could surely have ended. No fanfare, no warning (well, a little, praise God) and it would have been all over, one day shy of my first anniversary to the most wonderful man in the world. Plans and looking forward to our wonderful life for years to come would have evaporated.
So suddenly the obsessive checking of the stock market seems hollow. What's for dinner seems trivial at best. What could I possibly have to worry about that is not put into perspective by a near death experience? I still check the stock market but there's a part of my brain that has been rattled back into the real world. That is, treasure every second, love at every opportunity, do not hold grudges and be thankful for everything. Most of all, thankful for a man and a cat.
I can rattle off a dozen things to worry about. I suppose they could keep me from sleep. But it won't keep from that deep sleep we will all come to some day so what good is the worry? Put your energy into something more fruitful. Have a good conversation (pray) with your heavenly father who wishes only the best for you. Say thank you. Lay out your concerns to Him but don't let those concerns consume you. Like I said, put your energies into something more fruitful. Work hard. Play hard. Pray hard. My motto that seems to fit nicely right here about where to put your energies. Certainly NOT into worrying.
Last week I was riding my brand new bike for a pleasant Sunday afternoon ride. I had gone to Mass, visited my grandson (and my daughter and son-in-law) and now was at mile marker 4.87 on an intended 12 mile loop around the surrounding farms. Then it happened, I saw a car coming at me and wham, down I went, bike crumpled. I was blessed to see him coming so I had a chance to dive off at the last second. Still I hit the road hard on my hip and lay there in the middle of the road. I will confess to you all that the words out of my mouth were not saintly. I really screamed at the guy but that's not the point. I was actually OK and that is paramount.
What could have happened though was that in the blink of an eye at mile mark 4.87, my life could surely have ended. No fanfare, no warning (well, a little, praise God) and it would have been all over, one day shy of my first anniversary to the most wonderful man in the world. Plans and looking forward to our wonderful life for years to come would have evaporated.
So suddenly the obsessive checking of the stock market seems hollow. What's for dinner seems trivial at best. What could I possibly have to worry about that is not put into perspective by a near death experience? I still check the stock market but there's a part of my brain that has been rattled back into the real world. That is, treasure every second, love at every opportunity, do not hold grudges and be thankful for everything. Most of all, thankful for a man and a cat.
I can rattle off a dozen things to worry about. I suppose they could keep me from sleep. But it won't keep from that deep sleep we will all come to some day so what good is the worry? Put your energy into something more fruitful. Have a good conversation (pray) with your heavenly father who wishes only the best for you. Say thank you. Lay out your concerns to Him but don't let those concerns consume you. Like I said, put your energies into something more fruitful. Work hard. Play hard. Pray hard. My motto that seems to fit nicely right here about where to put your energies. Certainly NOT into worrying.
He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
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