• “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 ?  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies 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, O 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.  Matthew 6: 25-34

Worry is an insidious thing.  It can creep into life and permeate every fiber of our being if we allow it.  It can literally suck the lifeblood from us and leave us wondering about tomorrow.  It can paralyze if allowed to.

I was thinking about worry the other day when a friend and I were conversing about the things that were foremost on our minds.  I use the  word “worry” carefully these days.  I took it kind of personally when another nameless person  and I had an exchange about something of concern and I stated that it worried me.  She informed me that she did not worry because there was nothing she could change by worrying.  That remark, if I am honest, kind of gutted me because I began to feel that perhaps I was not as “good” a person as her because I admit to having the occasional worry now and then.  Then I decided to change my verbage to use the word “concern” instead of worry and even though concern does not really denote the level of my feelings at times about issues at hand it made me feel a bit better about myself.  Maybe I was just wanting to look better in her eyes.

There is certainly a great deal to be “concerned” about these days and as the events of the Boston Marathon tragedy unfold more completely I am moved to tears by the images and the words of those affected either by being participants, supporters, bystanders, race workers or rescue personnel.  There have been so many words written already, as with any event as horrific as this one, that are so eloquent and so much better than mine.  Having a friend who ran the marathon last year, following a wonderful blogger Jake from Poems and Ponderings who lives in Boston and just being aware of the “running community” makes me so aware of how an event like this can change a life.  It can change a person from every day living to living in fear and yes—worry—-about what may happen tomorrow.

I choose to not live that way.  I choose, and it is difficult some days, to live a life based on the premise that there are far more good people in the world.  There are far more of us out there in the world who are promoting living life to the fullest and loving each other than there are those who live to tear others down in means that are so horrific the mind can not wrap itself around them.  I choose to believe in mankind and in the inherent goodness of the human race.  I choose to see the helpers who come out of the woodwork at times like these.  I choose to focus on tomorrow with a positive outlook.  I choose to be aware of all that is bad and evil in the world but I CHOOSE to be positive and try to make a difference in my corner of the world.

I would love to hear your thoughts about worry.  I would love to hear how you view the world.  Let’s talk.  I’ve got time to listen.