Born a worry-wart, die a worry-wart?

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? -- Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)

The first time Jesus really "spoke" to me as I read his words in the New Testament was when I read the passage above from the Gospel of Matthew.

You see, I come from a long line of worry-warts. So throughout my adolescence and well into my adult life, I worried about everything: Will I get into the college I want? Will I have enough money to pay for college? Will I get a job when I get out of college? Will I have enough money to pay the bills? Will that cutie I want to marry say yes when I ask her?

I didn't realize it at the time, but Jesus was there with me to make sure the answer was yes when it was meant to be yes and no when it was meant to be no. (Unfortunately, the answer to "Will I win the lottery with this ticket I bought?" always turns out to be "Um, sorry, no." Bummer!)

I especially like the way Eugene Peterson interprets this lesson in "The Message:" "What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, the not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving."

Yet as comforting as Matthew 6 is, I still allow anxiety to get the best of me from time to time. (Born a worry-wart, die a worry-wart? I certainly hope not!)

Which, I think, is one of the best reasons for constantly reading Scripture. Because it's usually when I get overconfident and think everything is going well that God has a tendency to humble me or remind me that life's a series of challenges (a journey, remember?). None of them are insurmountable, with his help. And he doesn't want us worrying about whether things will work out OK. Instead, we are to trust in him and be reassured that he's always with us, regardless of what's happening at the time.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. -- Philippians 4:6 (NIV)