As I mentioned in the last blog, I still have to check myself into worry ‘rehab’ more often than I like.
I don’t know about you but there are still circumstances that happen and I’m not able to turn that worry switch off. If the kids are past curfew and I’ve not heard from them, yes I worry. When family members are going through difficulties, yes I still worry. When my 18 year daughter is making a 5-hour long drive to a horse show with another teenager, yes I’m always a little anxious until I know she has arrived safely.
One of my top 10 movies is Bruce Almighty. I’m assuming most of you have seen the movie. There’s a scene in the movie I’ve always found interesting. It’s towards the end when Bruce finally gets his big chance to do the evening news and in the midst of his big opportunity everything starts falling apart around him—much of it related to his own actions. When he goes to see God (played by Morgan Freeman) and in desperation says “what do I do NOW?” Freeman simply hands him a mop and says, “get to work”. And they start mopping. They don’t try to solve the disaster going on around them, they just start mopping; almost in a peaceful bliss. It seems, sometimes, all we can do when life is out of control is to start mopping, so to speak. In other words, get busy doing the task of life. Clean the house, wash the car, plant the garden or take the dog for a walk.
The point is that sitting around wallowing never seems to help too much (at least not for me), and most importantly things almost always do have a way of working themselves out on their own.
Jim Rohn would always say worry is part of life, but we must drive worry into a small corner of our minds so it won’t have too strong a grip on us. He confessed to being a worrier too earlier in his life until he finally had to say, “God if you’re in control then there is no need for me to have to worry”. And he said from that time forward he began to kick the worry habit.
Loved the Facebook post from Dea yesterday sharing Phil 4:6 “worry about nothing, pray about everything”. Such a great reminder.
At the very least worry is a distraction. It keeps us from doing what we need to do and most important becoming who we need to become.
Life has a way of confronting us all on our issues. I’m still in worry ‘rehab’ but working on it.
