Jesus Project, Day 3

Today's quote is from the Book of Matthew, Chapter 6. “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 than food, and the body more 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

For some reason, I hear Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" song in my head when I read this passage.  

How much energy do we spend on worry?  How much or often do we worry about work, or a blemish, or an upcoming vacation?  Or even about more serious things -- about what's on the news or a family member's illness?

The fact is that the only things we have any control over are our own actions in the immediate future.  We can plan what we intend to do at a later time.  We have no control over what others do or say, or what goes on in the world.  Some things are simply beyond our control.  

With this in mind, how much time do we waste worrying about things we cannot control, when there is so much right in front of us, right in our immediate moment, to appreciate?  God created so many good things in our lives -- beauty in all of creation, love, friendships -- that can be so easily overlooked if we spend our energies worrying about what may or may not happen in the future.

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."  ~Leo Buscaglia

Doesn't God deserve our attention?  And doesn't God deserve, at the very least, our appreciation for the uncountable blessings that we already have right in front of us?  

This quote also points out to me how much Jesus wants us to FEEL happy, here and now.  Not just in the next life, not just some day after we've done a lot of work.  Jesus wants us to be joyful, in each day, with each other and our God.  How beautiful is that?