Faith – Behold Her Bloom

sunrise-quotes

One of my favorite bible verses is Matthew 6:34 which states “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I actually have this written down and placed on my refrigerator, a magnet holding it securely in place. A daily reminder to not let worry tug at my soul and take up space in my day.

The thing is, even though the note has been hanging on my refrigerator door and I do read it, albeit not daily as I had planned, worry still seems to float around in my mind and at times overwhelm me.

I want so badly to listen to these words of wisdom that have been graciously handed down and truly disable all worries I have about the here and now. But the question is how? How can you stop worrying about tomorrow?

Matthew sure had it right when he said that “each day has enough trouble of its own”. Don’t we all face daily struggles and challenges? Each day bringing with it something new, whether a small worry or a big one?

Then it occurred me, the most important words of this verse, to me, are “for tomorrow will worry about itself”. It is a stark reminder that tomorrow isn’t promised to any one of us so why spend precious minutes worrying about it? Tomorrow will be different from today in many ways and who knows what will unfold then.

I believe Matthew is telling us to live for the now. To be present and alive. To put aside the worries we have for the future and do what we can with today. To not let worry linger in the forefront of our minds and let minutes and hours of this day go by, wasted.

You see worry robs us of presence. Worry steals our joy. Worry is a thief.

This beautiful verse serves as a reminder that God wants us to enjoy today and be fully conscious in everything we do. He doesn’t want worry to paralyze us so much so, that we hold our breaths as we wait for things to fall apart. He didn’t create us to spend our time in a constant state of stress, waiting and wondering. He created us to fully experience His earth. To see, feel, touch and smell the world around us and bathe in its beauty.

I don’t want to worry away this time I have today with my husband and my kids, my worry taking me away from them. I don’t want to take advantage of a single moment by poisoning it with anguish. I want to take Matthew’s advice to heart and tuck worry aside, at least starting with the small worries I hold on to. I want to tuck it into the folds of my inner being where it will always be with me.

Like the magnet that holds my handwritten note to the refrigerator door, I want these words to stay hung up in my heart, where they will stay, permanently etched.

Woman praying and free bird enjoying nature on sunset background, hope concept — Faith is believing in something you cannot see

For years I’ve held onto beliefs and ideas of the world that I realize no longer serve me. I’m newly a Christian and percieving God in my daily view has changed things. Incorporating Him into my sight somehow brightens the dark spaces and corners that I once hid in. It’s like standing in the dark just before the dawn. God is like warm sunlight and His goodness and love warms our souls.

Believing in something greater than yourself somehow puts things in perspective. You begin to feel stirrings of hope. Hope for the world. Hope for yourself. Hope for your family. Hope in all things. I’m learning that God wants to draw us out of ourselves and into Him. He wants us to deplete ourselves in Him and come to Him completely raw. He knows us to our very bone, all the good, all the bad, and He still loves us unconditionally. His love is extraordinary because it is only given by someone so unblemished as Him.

The world is so complex and ever changing, but God is grounded, and like a comfortable routine, he forever stays the same. THAT is a kind of security I can wrap myself up in when things around me are collapsing. Life can be tough and can unravel in the blink of an eye but when we have something solid to lean on we can survive more gracefully. Our falls won’t be as hard and with God’s helping hand we will, over time, become more resilient.

Being a piece of God’s creation, and letting Him be a piece of our innermost being is the most remarkable feeling. When I began trusting and letting Him soak into the fibers of my soul my life changed. I’m far from where I want to be in my relationship with Him but I walk a little closer each day knowing that my bond with Him is unbreakable.

This world is so much more than what we can visually perceive. There’s an unspoken beauty that, only by welcoming God into our hearts, we can see. Stand in those dark spaces of your life and call out to Him. Bring your deepest sorrows and your biggest regrets and lay them down at his feet and watch the transformation as the sun comes out to shine into the inky depths of where you’re hiding. God is light in the darkness. Let his light illuminate you. He’s waiting for you to whisper His name so He can reach out and save you. You just have to believe. You just have to trust.