“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”—MATTHEW 6:25 NIV
A survey among caregivers of stroke victims revealed that the caregivers’ positive experiences outweighed the negative. The common thread in the report was that the situation had changed the caregivers’ outlook on life as they found themselves able to let the daily minutiae go, choosing to focus on the present. What a great attitude!
Jesus gave the same advice to the multitudes clamoring for His attention. Desiring to know what was to come, they were full of questions. He counseled them to live in the moment, for their Father knew what they needed and what the future held. They could rest assured that He was in control.
We can become so concerned about the details that we forget that God sees the big picture. When we release our worries and concerns to Him and learn to live in the moment, our stress levels lower. It’s not an easy task—it takes conscious effort and practice. We might pick up the worries again and roll them around in our brains, but when we recognize what we’re doing, we need to pray and place them—again—at the foot of the cross.
Let God handle the minutiae. He knows what He’s doing.
Father, help me to release my worry and stress today. I place them at the foot of the cross as I leave all the details of this situation to You.
So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.—Genesis 1:21 (NIV)
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.—Colossians 3:23 (ESV)
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.—Romans 12:2 (ESV)
