Do Not Worry
I am a planner. I love having a schedule planned out in advance, and knowing exactly what is going on. Last year I had an internship lined up by mid November for the summer, and loved knowing that I had a plan for the summer. Now here I am, a year later, ready to be done with classes and frequently thinking ahead to next summer and the excitement and uncertainty it is bringing. If only I knew where I would be working, I could start figuring out where I’ll be living once my lease is up, and I could begin planning my life, right? It’s so much easier to think about being done with classes and starting “real life” when there’s a stressful week with many tests and homeworks. There’s just plenty to worry about, and I really start to get stressed out. It’s times like this that I think about this passage:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 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? … Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For … indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
It’s hard to know exactly how to apply it to my life, but I tried to teach it to my 6th and 7th grade pre-confirmation class this weekend. I don’t know if they got as much out of it as I did, but I was reminded to stay focused on today. If I’m constantly planning my next step, I’m never going to take the time to enjoy the fantastic opportunities and experiences I have right in front of me now. I like to think that once I’m done with college, I will spend more time to enjoy the little things in life, but I’m realizing more and more (especially after a busy summer internship) that it’s something that I have to work harder to achieve, and it’s definitely a goal for the rest of the year: to enjoy the random conversations I have with my roommates, to go out to coffee with an old friend, and to not be constantly thinking about what there is to get done next.
-Sara Sneed