Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday August 15, 2007

In my feeble efforts to help folks along life's way I often encourage them to learn to live one day at a time. Jesus taught this principle in Matthew six and the passage from Matt. 6:25-34 covers the gamut of things we worry about. This passage has been called "God's Cure For Anxious Care." This would be a good title for our times.

I like the passage because "Lilies" are mentioned as "special."

I have been studying the Bible for over 45 years now and though I have learned much in comparison to my pre-Jesus days, I still have not mastered the art of not worrying. I sometimes feel like the older gentlemen who checked the East window each morning to see if this would be the day the morning sun chose to bathe the Western window in its glory. Worry has been as much a part of my life as breathing.

Most writers on the subject of "Inner Serenity" posit that we must learn to break life down to smaller segments and thus the things that worry us will not seem so overwhelming. It almost like breaking the oceans down to the little drainage ditch that runs through the project where you live. Perhaps you prefer "development" to "project." I understand why you would worry about the designation.

In his classic book, "How To Win Friends And Influence People" Dale Carnegie taught his readers to learn to live in "day tight compartments." He believed this practice would heal us from worrying about too many things at once. I don't think he knew how many things can go wrong in only one day.

That we humans worry is so well documented that to offer proof is ridiculous. The creator of Peanuts and other lovable characters, Charles Shultz wrote on the problem of worry. His life work often dealt with the subject because he knew the devastating power of worry. As every smug theology student knows, "worry is the opposite of faith." I sure am an opposite person. Charles Shultz said:

"I have developed a new philosophy; I only dread one day at a time."

Is this what Jesus meant when He said, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Learning to focus on today instead of all the negative things that might happen over the next year may be helpful if you are willing to stick your head in the sand and forget some of the most destructive things did not take a year to shake up even the entire world. The explosion of the Atomic Bomb happened in mere nanoseconds. Who knows what the next nanosecond may hold?

Do you think it will be better to reduce this anti-worrying idea to its irreducible minimum and live while thanking Jesus for only the current breath, for when all is said and done; the current breath is the only one that matters.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit

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