do not worry

In this past weeks gospel on Sunday we heard Jesus give us the invitation or rather a commandment not to worry.

What is neat about his particular gospel Matthew 6:24-34 is the way Jesus tells us about not worrying.

In the beginning of the gospel, JEsus sets the stage for the two forces that vie for our attention, our time, our life: God and mammon (material wealthy, prestige, power, position and all that stuff). These are the tow realities that are seeking to either build us or drag us down.

But right after Jesus mentions God or Mammon, he then proceeds with the invitation not to worry in a nonchalant way. There is not discourse on why choose one over the other, Jesus assumes that the decision is a no brainer. When you see both held up together, God and mammon then the obvious decision is really no decision at all. Jesus assumes we get it and that we already made up our minds of which we will serve.

Now, have we made up our minds? Have we made a decision?

Then why do we worry? why do we stay up late, remain restless through the night, and preoccupied through the day with worry on the brain? Have we made up our minds or are we still skirting the fence?


The word "worry" has a fascinating origin. It comes from an old saxon word that was created or developed to describe an event. "Worry" was a word that was used to describe the sound an animal makes when being strangled.

When a dog would have a sheep by the throat, tearing and pulling, the sound the sheep would make while in the grip of the dogs mouth is where we get the word "worry."

Think about that for a moment.

Worry is that which strangles one's life. Is that not what worry does!

It strangles our life, it saps our energy, depletes our strength and steals our joy. It suffocates us and imprisons us.

Worry is that little demon that whispers in our ears "what if"...what if that or what if this. It is putting question marks where God puts periods.

Bishop Fulton Sheen describes worry as a mark of atheism. Worry means we lack faith in the Father who holds all things in his hands. We lack faith in His providential care.

This is why JEsus in the gospel calls the disciples, "O ye of little faith." This is a greek term "oligipistos" that Jesus uses only with the disciples. IT would be equivalent as saying "yo worry warts, don't you yet understand who I am and who the Father is."

Is this not the source of worry, the inability to know who the Father is and trust his hands.

There are two things that cause worry in our life, as I see it.

First most worry is self afflicted. By our carelessness, laziness, wastefulness, extravagance, procrastination we feed the beast we call worry and allow it to grow. IT is our own doing for the most part.

Take a few moments to dissect your cause worry.

The other thing that cause worry in our life are those things that are beyond our control. How often we worry about things that don't concern us or that which we have no control over in the first place. It is amazing how often we fill our days and nights with that which is out of our hands and it makes us sick.

These are the two main categories of worry and they are unnecessary.

So how do we spell relief when it comes to worrying. Remember the R-O-L-A-I-D-S commercials, spelling relief. What is the remedy for Worry, the ROLAIDS solution?

Jesus gives us two remedies against worry.

First he invites us to look at the birds, the flowers, the grass. He wants us to stop looking at ourselves but start looking outward. When we look outward we are able to see how the world turns. We able to experience the rhyme and reason and season of life and how everything is held together by the Father's hands.

The created world is the first gift of God to us. It is the original surround system, high definition, or 3D experience. The heavens proclaim the glory of GOd and the world takes up the message and make sit known.

Creation is constantly reminding us who the Father is as cares for all.

Instead of just moving form place to place perhaps we should slow down and let the created world penetrate our lives and reveal time and time again the Father's loving hands.

Think about the birds for a moment. They are industrious but they only concern themselves with that which concerns them. Imagine what our life would be like f we just concerned ourselves with that which concerns us. How much free space would we have in our hard Drive to do other things. How much more energy would we have?


sEcondly JEsus invites us to seek the kingdom. He tells us that we should waste time worrying because we got better things to do. All too full is our soul with the material world when we tending to that which matters most, seeking the kingdom.

In short we can get busy dying with the weight or worry or we can get busy living, moving forward and directing our energy where it can be productive and vibrant.

SImple solution to spell relief for worry.