Matthew 6:25-30

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, 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, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?”

In spite of Jesus’ admonition we all worry, some of more than others, to be sure, and what we all seem to worry most about is that which is out of our control. What we want most of all in this life is to be in control, to be the captain of our own ship, the master of or own destiny. Yet we know we are not nor can we ever be.

As human beings we cannot control the tides of life that come and go. We cannot control the various winds that blow through our lives. We can barely control our own lives at times. We may erect barriers and walls to keep ourselves safe, but no wall is impenetrable. We are not even safe from ourselves, from putting ourselves, even our very loves, in jeopardy because of our foolishness. And so we worry.

We want to put everything in God’s hands believing God knows what is best for us and will take care of us, but we don’t, not always. We want to not be concerned over that which is out of our control, but we do. We even sweat the small stuff, sometimes more than we sweat the big stuff. And even though in the grand scheme of things we know that everything is truly small stuff, we still cannot let go and let God be in charge.

That is not to say that we take no responsibility for anything. In fact, we tend to be very good at taking responsibility, so much so that we want to take responsibility for that over which we have no control – which, I think, is what Jesus is talking about in this passage. The only part of creation over which we have any real control is today, this moment, right here and now. The next moment, tomorrow, the next day and the days beyond are the result of too many other contingencies over which we have little or no input. All we can do, all we are asked to do, is take care of the moment, do the very best we can at each moment of our lives. If we do that, God will take care of the rest.

The problem, of course, is that when we spend too many of the present moments worrying about the moments to come, we do not take care of the present, which is precisely what gets us into a lot of trouble, which then causes worry, which – well, get the picture?

I pray: Lord, thank for you this day, this moment in my life, for the promise to be with me always. Help me to take care of my responsibilities and leave the rest to you. Amen.