Worry gets in the way of having a happy life
(Published in The Bay City Tribune May 11, 2011)
Another school year is coming to an end and graduation season is upon us.
High school seniors are celebrating the end of their childhood and are ready to head off to college or trade school.
College students are looking at the end of their school years and the beginning of a whole new life.
While this is a joyful time, a time to celebrate new beginnings, it also can be a scary time.
College graduates, or those high school students who don’t continue on to higher education, no longer have the security of school life.
It is time for them to go out and find jobs to support themselves and a future family.
Some may already have families to support.
My son is graduating from college Friday and is so worried about what is next, he can’t even take joy in what should be one of the happiest times of his life.
He has made it through four years of college by hard work and determination.
He started working his senior year in college and, through scholarships and his job, he will be graduating with no student loans or debts of any kind.
He should be excited about the new beginnings ahead of him instead of worried about what is to come.
While where to go with their lives is a big decision, graduates shouldn’t allow their lives to be consumed with worry about what is to come.
Worry is something all of us struggle with at some point in our lives, almost daily for some of us.
We worry about finding or keeping a job, if we are making the right decisions about where our life should go, where the money to pay for bills will come from during lean times, the decisions our children are making and so much more.
But worry is a useless and wrong frame of mind.
Matthew 6:27 says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” None of us can.
In fact, worry and stress can affect our health in a negative way and actually subtract time from our lives.
Worry also gets in the way of faith in our life.
When we worry, we assume responsibility for things in our lives we were not intended to handle, we take away from the faith we should have in God to handle all things.
Worrying does not change anything; it only draws away the joy and peace promised to us through our faith in God.
Worry is the opposite of faith, it suggests that God cannot be trusted to provide all we need.
Worry allows fear to take the place of faith.
Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
By taking our worries and turning them over to God we can, through faith, know that everything will turn out according to His will, that we aren’t alone in making decisions and working out problems.
He is always there with us, guiding us.
All we have to do is turn over our cares, listen to His voice and follow where He leads.
Matthew 6:34 says,” Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
We should replace all of our worries and anxious thoughts by offering thanksgiving from our hearts that are full of trust in God as all sufficient, as a provider of all our needs.
Then we can fully embrace joy and peace, two of the Fruits of the Spirit, as promised us by God.
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