Today's trouble is enough for today! - May 14

Today’s Readings:AM Psalm [70], 71; PM Psalm 74; Lev. 19:26–37; 2 Thess. 1:1–12; Matt. 6:25–34

I have been worrying about tomorrow all day. Not really tomorrow, but the next phase of life in COVID-19. After spending two hours on a conference call with other priests and our Bishop, conversation with our wardens, and drafting a letter to our congregation to be sent today, there has been a lot of worrying about tomorrow. And then I read and hear these words found in the Gospel of Matthew, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” I see why Jesus calls himself ‘the Truth’ in John’s Gospel. Today’s trouble is enough for today!

The words in today’s Scripture are meant to be words of hope and encouragement. Jesus says, ‘do not worry about your life.’ These comforting words from the Sermon on the Mount remind people that God provides life. In asking us to consider the lilies of the field, we are invited to look out at the splendor and beauty of creation and see all that God has done and provided. Why then are we worried about what we cannot control when the world is teeming with life, beauty, and possibility?

It dawned on me while resting with this passage, that even when Covid-19 has come and gone, there will be remarkable challenges we will face. Loved ones will still hurt, people will get sick, we will break promises, work too much, rush around too much, and life will go on. And yet God’s grace and goodness will still abound, just as it is today. I wonder if there is a way to learn to reserve our worry for what we have control over or can change, and with everything else, have the faith and confidence that God is loving our world into wholeness. Jesus implies, “strive for the Kingdom and all else shall be well.”

- John+

Questions for Self Reflection:

  • What do you worry about that is out of your control? What do you worry about that you can change or influence? Where do you devote most of your energy?

Daily Challenge

  • Find a rock or something with a little weight to it. Now pick one of your worries that is out of your control and imagine naming that object for that worry. Carry that object in a pocket or with you for half of today. After noonday prayers, consider letting go of the object. 

John Burruss