Where did April go? We run headlong into May this week, I’m still wondering if I slept through Easter. No, I was there. Wasn’t I? Certainly, I was. Definitely. Pretty sure anyway. Yeah.
But now, we’ve run out of April. Well, in a few days anyway. OK, I’ve been busy. You too, I’m sure. It is hard to keep track of days when they are so full. Routine busters like vacations, like family members come to visit and then staying, hospital stays and rehab, planning for a graduation and making college visits. Whew. It gets so that when I get a text from my son in college I have to think for a moment who this is. Don’t tell him.
Where did it go? You can’t help but worry when you get out of control, like that. Or even if you are still moderately in control - you aren’t running around screaming ... yet - worry can still creep in around the edges. Like just now I inadvertently chose sides in a mother-daughter dispute, and now no one is happy with me or with each other or just happy.
Don’t worry. You know where I am going with this. We’ve been reading our way through the Sermon on the Mount. So naturally we have to get to that Bobby McFerrin passage - don’t worry, be happy. You know the one. Well, take a look then.
Matthew 6:19 - 7:12 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25 "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? 26 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? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 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? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye. 6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
7 "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10 Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
Whew. All that? Now I am worried. Worried that you are bored by so much scripture. Worried that you’ll think I’m slacking, cutting and pasting to fill most of the page. Worried that ... wait. What’s that you say? Get a grip?
Besides being one those commandments from Jesus that we absolutely refuse to follow, there is actually more going on here. This isn’t just advice from someone trying to keep our hair from turning white. This isn’t just pop psychology in an old pop song.
And in fact a closer examination shows that this isn’t about no more worries! It is about perspective. “Do not worry about your life.” Jesus is setting us free from what we worry most about, ourselves.
Do not store up treasures on earth. Don’t spend your time focusing on the things that will get you off track, the things of darkness rather than light. Learn, he says, to prioritize. Learn what really matters. And if you don’t know then go looking.
Maybe there is something to worry about, but it isn’t us. It is the Kingdom of God. Or maybe we don’t have time to worry, we are too busy looking, knocking on doors, asking others what they know about what life with God is really about. Maybe we don’t worry because there specks to be cleaned up. We are motivated to get the logs out of the way so that we can work on those specks.
And we don’t have time to worry because we are looking for the right moment. It takes time to build the relationship that will allow us to share knowledge, to share hope, to share lives with others. And if we skip that relationship building stage, it is like throwing away something precious, like missing a moment, a life giving moment. And the word we thought would help only hurts more because we didn’t wait for the right time, we drive people away with our untimeliness when all we really wanted was to bring them closer to what has given us life and hope and value.
Maybe that’s how we avoid worry, by not worrying about worry. By wrapping ourselves up in looking outward. By not thinking about how we want to be treated, but by treating others as they were our own bodies, our own souls. Tending to those around us as if they were the body of Christ. Because they are. As are we.
Where did the time go? It was wrapped up in opportunities to love and to be loved. Some were missed and some were seized. In some we were fully alive, in some it is like we were sleepwalking only to awake later and wonder what has passed us by. These are the hours we have. We can wish for more, or we can live the ones we are given. One leads to frustration and worry, the other to life. Choose this day.
As for me and my house ...
Shalom,
Derek
But now, we’ve run out of April. Well, in a few days anyway. OK, I’ve been busy. You too, I’m sure. It is hard to keep track of days when they are so full. Routine busters like vacations, like family members come to visit and then staying, hospital stays and rehab, planning for a graduation and making college visits. Whew. It gets so that when I get a text from my son in college I have to think for a moment who this is. Don’t tell him.
Where did it go? You can’t help but worry when you get out of control, like that. Or even if you are still moderately in control - you aren’t running around screaming ... yet - worry can still creep in around the edges. Like just now I inadvertently chose sides in a mother-daughter dispute, and now no one is happy with me or with each other or just happy.
Don’t worry. You know where I am going with this. We’ve been reading our way through the Sermon on the Mount. So naturally we have to get to that Bobby McFerrin passage - don’t worry, be happy. You know the one. Well, take a look then.
Matthew 6:19 - 7:12 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25 "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? 26 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? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 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? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye. 6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
7 "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10 Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
Whew. All that? Now I am worried. Worried that you are bored by so much scripture. Worried that you’ll think I’m slacking, cutting and pasting to fill most of the page. Worried that ... wait. What’s that you say? Get a grip?
Besides being one those commandments from Jesus that we absolutely refuse to follow, there is actually more going on here. This isn’t just advice from someone trying to keep our hair from turning white. This isn’t just pop psychology in an old pop song.
And in fact a closer examination shows that this isn’t about no more worries! It is about perspective. “Do not worry about your life.” Jesus is setting us free from what we worry most about, ourselves.
Do not store up treasures on earth. Don’t spend your time focusing on the things that will get you off track, the things of darkness rather than light. Learn, he says, to prioritize. Learn what really matters. And if you don’t know then go looking.
Maybe there is something to worry about, but it isn’t us. It is the Kingdom of God. Or maybe we don’t have time to worry, we are too busy looking, knocking on doors, asking others what they know about what life with God is really about. Maybe we don’t worry because there specks to be cleaned up. We are motivated to get the logs out of the way so that we can work on those specks.
And we don’t have time to worry because we are looking for the right moment. It takes time to build the relationship that will allow us to share knowledge, to share hope, to share lives with others. And if we skip that relationship building stage, it is like throwing away something precious, like missing a moment, a life giving moment. And the word we thought would help only hurts more because we didn’t wait for the right time, we drive people away with our untimeliness when all we really wanted was to bring them closer to what has given us life and hope and value.
Maybe that’s how we avoid worry, by not worrying about worry. By wrapping ourselves up in looking outward. By not thinking about how we want to be treated, but by treating others as they were our own bodies, our own souls. Tending to those around us as if they were the body of Christ. Because they are. As are we.
Where did the time go? It was wrapped up in opportunities to love and to be loved. Some were missed and some were seized. In some we were fully alive, in some it is like we were sleepwalking only to awake later and wonder what has passed us by. These are the hours we have. We can wish for more, or we can live the ones we are given. One leads to frustration and worry, the other to life. Choose this day.
As for me and my house ...
Shalom,
Derek
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