Thought for the Day - Tuesday 18 August

 

Thought for the Day – Tuesday 18^th August

‘Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.’ (Proverbs 12: 25)

 

Isn’t it amazing that no matter how wonderful your holiday or time of rest has been, no matter how rested and relaxed you have felt during that time, no matter how refreshed your soul is, no matter how ready you feel to return to work, you still wake up on the night before your return, through the night, with your head full of thoughts and worries and things to make sure you organise and get done – even if you have already made a list of them the day before to try and prevent this middle of the night waking!

 

On the night before I return to duties I often wake around four and go over in my head all the people I need to catch up with, the phone calls I need to return, the processes that might be required for me to get into the hospital to visit someone, and that’s before all the Covid related stuff and the re-opening of our church buildings and how I am going to conduct a wedding for someone when I have no building in which to conduct it and that’s before all the personal stuff like getting your car serviced! 

 

Isn’t it also amazing that generally, although I do acknowledge not always for some people, on waking and getting through that first day you realise that all that worry and anxiety was in vain but as it says in our verse from Proverbs it does weigh down the human heart.

 

Corrie Ten Boom once said of worry, ‘Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength’ and the one time Dean of St Paul’s William R. Inge once said, ‘Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.’ I think both of these are wise sayings but somehow it is so hard to actually act take them to heart isn’t it - we still weigh ourselves down with worry and anxiety – often needless worry and anxiety which can actually prevent us from facing life and coping with its problems.

 

Some worry is natural – like when we fear for our loved ones – however, to worry about what might not happen or to be fearful of things which truly should hold no fear or to fret about possibilities rather than certainties – all of these cause needless anxiety – for truly there will be time enough to deal with such things SHOULD they ever arise without us having to worry about them over and over again before they ever do or if they ever do.

 

Worry has the power to crush our human spirit – yet so often what we worry about just never materialises and if it does, it is often not as worrisome as we imagined it to be!

 

Thankfully though in all our times of worry we have God – he is always there supporting us, giving us confidence to face each day no matter what it holds, holding out his promise of a future with him which nothing can destroy.

 

I know it is futile to say don’t worry for we all do – but let’s try not to let worry destroy this present time for us.

 

Prayer

 

Loving Lord,

From the corners of worry and anxiety and fear, from the shadows where we huddle with our doubts, draw us to your deep well of love. In every moment where we look for strength to continue, in every time we worry if our faith is enough, welcome us into your peace. In any time of worry, anxiety or fear, may we see your spirit at work in every person who embraces us and accepts us and offers us healing and hope. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.