DIFFERENT

   

The color in this tree stands out from the other trees because it is different.  While the other trees were still green, this tree shown brightly with colors of yellow and orange.  It sparkled!  While the other trees blended into the background of all the other trees, this one stood out.  It was not concerned about what the other trees thought, it wasn't worried about offending the other trees, it didn't shrink back and hide it's beauty.  If a tree that really does nothing for us, except take care of oxygen and carbon monoxide, can live it's life free of worry and concern, why can't we?  

Oh I know you scientific folks will give me a list of reasons a tree doesn't feel and doesn't care, I get that, I know that.  I'm just using trees as a comparison.  What I'm trying to say is that a tree does some amazing things.  In the summer it gives us shade, it cleans and purifies the air we breath, and so many other great things that we take for granted.  Of course worry is not a part of their design, but it isn't a part of ours either, so why do we worry?  Why do we waste our time and health concerning ourselves with the probabilities of life that may never happen?  And if these things we worry about do come true, what good does it do to worry?  Can we change anything or anyone by our worrying?  Can we change our circumstances by worrying?  

Worrying is a big, fat waste of time!  It puts so much stress on our already stressed out bodies.  It can destroy our health and ruin marriages and families.  Oh we'd love to put all our loved ones in a plastic bubble to protect them from all the germs floating around, but that doesn't really do any good.  We'd love to wrap our loved ones in bubble wrap to protect them from the evil that lives in this world, but that is not reality and quite frankly it is impossible.  I used to watch my mom pace the floor waiting for my brother or sister to come home.  I used to watch her wring her hands and pray her rosary over and over and over again.  It was hard to watch.  

I decided when I was younger that I would not worry my life away.  You ask how I could decide something like that.   Well to be quite honest, I saw the stress in my mom's eyes.  I heard her cries in the dark when she thought I was sleeping.  I was determined not to live my life that way.  Some say you cannot control your feelings....I beg to differ because I have learned to do just that, for the most part.  (I am human and fall short a lot.)  I prayed for strength to fight against worrying my life away.  It hasn't always been easy, but I can honestly say I hardly worry.  

There is nothing in my life that worry will fix or change so why bother?  As a believer in Jesus Christ, there is no need for me to worry because He's on my side, He's got my back.  Listen my days are already planned in God's Book of Life.  Every hair on my head has been counted and all my tears have been collected, so why should I waste time worrying?  God is for me and wants the best for my life, so I trust in Him.  I rely on Him.  I give thanks to Him.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Because of my faith and trust in God, I have peace that I cannot explain.  My heart and my mind is connected with His will for my life and I trust Him to use all things for my good.  Yes there are still days I want to sit and worry about my life but God always seems to snap me out of my funk and back into His loving arms.  It is so comforting for me to know that I do not have to worry about anything.  God's got the whole world in His hands.