A Reminder

It always amazes me how I can take something as simple as Jesus' command to not worry and fail at it so utterly and completely.  Things seem to go well for a while, and then I just fall apart.  And, it is always the little things that reflect it.  This weekend it has been concern for a cat.  We brought a cat home on Thursday, and he just has not been well.  And I have worried.  But, as I think about it, worry over the cat is really just a surface reflection of the fact that I'm worried about a lot of things.  Family stuff. School planning. Upcoming conflicts. Church issues. The future.  The cat is just something present, tangible, and simple.  So, my worry about everything else shows up in my worry about a cat.


The reason my fight against worry spirals out of control is because I take Jesus out of it.  I can't avoid worry on my own, and He doesn't ask me to!  He knows that the only way I keep from worrying is by doing it His way.  That's why he gives me Phil 4:6 - the instruction to be thankful!


This morning I thanked Him for Jack the cat, prayed for wisdom, and then was immediately shown that God really does have Jack taken care of.  Immediately.  And, through that immediate reminder, He also showed me that even though I might not have immediately tangible encouragement in the other things I have been anxious about, He is working just as definitively in those areas as well. 



That's His peace - the peace promised in Phil 4:7. 


Every now and then I just need a reminder and a renewed commitment to present it all to Him with thankfulness, whether it is something huge or something as little as concern about a cat.  I am challenged today to use my mental energy to go through and give Him my anxieties, be thankful, and then let His consolations delight my soul (Ps 94:19) and his incomprehensible peace guard my heart and mind.