“Don’t worry, be happy!” Remember that nauseating little mantra with the “happy dimpled, round, yellow face smiling from ear to ear.” Ah…so easy to say. So then why aren’t we all doing it?
Okay, I need not be cynical, I suppose, since truth is that we do spend a lot of useless time thinking and worrying about something. I used to say of my mother that if she wasn’t worrying about me or my siblings she was worried about why she wasn’t worried! I have been there. It seems natural. What will happen to us? What will happen to our children? What if we get sick? Who will care for us? What if? What if?
On the other hand, we seem to find time to spend just about as much time thinking about the past. What could we have done differently? How we should have or could have been. If only I had…If only, if only.
If we really think about it there are two days in the week about which we should not worry. Two days that we should intentionally free up from fear and anxiety.
The first one is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and muddled up blunders, its heart aches and pains. Yesterday is gone.
Can we learn from it? Yes. Can we bring it back? No matter how hard we try it has gone beyond our control (if we ever had any control) forever. We can’t undo a single thing that we did, erase a single word that we said, change any action no matter how big or small. We must face that yesterday is gone and dwelling on it is an exercise in futility.
You guessed it. The second day we should not worry about is tomorrow with all its possible burdens. Tomorrow can be the anxious unknown, with all its possibilities, it is also beyond our immediate control. Face it. The sun will rise tomorrow, either beautiful, bright and warm or behind a mask of cloud hidden underneath a snow storm. What is it that Annie sings? “The sun will come out tomorrow.” It will rise, and until it does we have little stake in it because it is yet not born.
What we are given is this day, today. Oh, we can waste our time grieving over yesterday, worrying about tomorrow. That can keep us from the responsibilities we have right now. But then, when do we get to enjoy the wonders around us? When do we feel the love of our companions on this life’s journey? How do we recognize the healing that is occurring in our lives? If life is hard right now, we know we can fight the battle for just one day…and we can be thankful for this new day with all its possibilities.
I wonder if that was what Jesus meant when he said to his disciples: “Do not worry” (Luke 12:22). Could it mean he meant don’t miss today by getting stuck in yesterday or tomorrow?
Just pondering.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week our contributor is Pastor EvaLyn Carlson, serving as interim minister of Zoar Lutheran Church in Tofte.
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