Have you ever
participated in an experiment where you were given a phrase like “yellow car”
and then were asked to put it out of your mind?
But the harder you tried, the more yellow dominated your thoughts. This kind of exercise shows that we can never
forget something by concentrating on it. Anxious thoughts which come with the
cares of life are like that. How many of
us spend sleepless nights trying to solve complex problems and all we
accomplish is fixing them more firmly in our minds. Paul knew all about the
thought process, and found a way to deal with worry. He tells us about it in the book of
Philippians. While occupying a jail cell,
awaiting trial and the eventual sentence of either life or death he encouraged
his readers to be joyful. “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” This
sounds like a man who found the key to worry.
He simply gave the instruction to turn them over to the Father. Possibly
his discovery came by reflecting upon the admonition given to the disciples by
Jesus. “Do not worry about the necessities of life, because your heavenly Father
knows that you need all these things.” From this we learn according to David
McCasland that “the way to forget our worries is to concentrate on the goodness
and loving care of God, not on the problems that plague us.” David Sper agrees
and wrote the following poem:
When we give all our cares to God
Our worries will depart
He
gives to us a peace of mind
That
calms our anxious heart
This
prescription will always work. Focusing on worry will bury you but giving the
same attention to God will unburden you. Everyday each of us is handed a running
list of things that can preoccupy our mind and drive us to the precipice of
insanity. However, on those occasions when you decide to jump make sure you
leap in the direction of God. By doing so you will have no problem dealing with
worry!
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