Thursday, March 20 Matthew 6:26-27

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

WHY WORRY?

When I was growing up, I was very close to my aunts. They were wonderful and perplexing. They loved to worry. I liked that they thought of others, but I was bothered that the conversations they held usually included their worries — and there were many. I started to think that maybe this was what you were supposed to do when you grew up. Worrying did not come easy to me, so I had a lot to learn.

We all went to church faithfully. Very often the Scriptures contained passages like Matthew 6:26-27: Do not worry; don`t be afraid. I was trying to learn how to be an adult and I was confused. The Bible told me to not worry. God is in charge. But my precious aunts loved to worry. Worrying, it seemed, gave them comfort. Or maybe it just gave them something to talk about. I was indeed perplexed.

However, as I grew in my faith from a child to a confirmand to a member of the church, I came to be confident in the words of Jesus and the prophets. I especially loved this verse in Matthew. This was real. I could fully relate to this. The birds had no place to store food for the future. Finding food each day was what they had to do to survive. And they survived. God took care of them.

The last words of this allegorical passage really made sense to me: “And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” I thought about my aunts. Did worry add any value to their lives? Did worry bring joy to their lives? I think not. God tells us over and over that God will take care of us.

We have God`s work to do — to love God and to love our neighbors. But worry does not help us in those endeavors. God is with us, as God is with the birds of the air.

Our Gracious God, you promise to care for us as you care for the birds. Let us rest in that promise and grace. Amen

Anita Dorf

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