Letting Go of Worry
By Emma (15)
I was only six years old when they happened, so people often ask me if I even remember the earthquakes that struck our city. Boy, do I remember them! They are to this day one of my most vivid memories, complete with all the emotions that washed over me the first time they struck.
I was asleep when the earth underneath me started to roar. My heart began to quiver. I jolted up, and a wail leaped from my throat. I didn’t even know what was happening. It felt like a dream, a nightmare. And I was terrified. My parents had me under a door frame, and we sat there until it came to a light sway, then to a halt. Unlike me, the frame finally stopped shaking, but I had barely breathed a sigh of relief before it started again. And then again. And again. Some only little tasters, some feeling like they were worse than the first. Lying on a mattress with my family, I stared at my living room ceiling and asked my mum how long they would last. She didn’t know.
I went to sleep many nights from then on, worrying and wondering whether my next day would be shaken up by an earthquake. Over 10 000 aftershocks were recorded in Christchurch from when I was 6-11 years old, so they become part of my life’s routine. But the quakes themselves weren’t what worried me most, it was fear of the future. The future was unpredictable and, therefore, unsafe.
I developed a habit of lying in bed and worrying about tomorrow. First, it was how big the next quake might be, or when it would strike, and if it would harm or disrupt me. But as they slowly became less regular, the worrying turned to all the negative possibilities of tomorrow, and to the fact that I had no idea what my future would look like. It took me many years to finally realise for myself that, ‘Worrying doesn’t take away tomorrow’s troubles, it only takes away today’s peace.’ [i]
In Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV) Jesus says to us, “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 than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
I know that we worry about the future—the tomorrow future and the after high school future. But whether it’s a second from now or 40 years from now, the hand that created the heavens is holding it. Safely. You don’t need to be anxious about what path you will end up on, who you will end up with on it, or what might unexpectedly shake you next. You can have faith in God's perfect plan for you, and that will overtake all worry.
PROMPT: Is there a worry weighing you down and stealing your peace? Imagine yourself giving it over to your Father. Imagine Him now taking your hand in His, as together you walk forward into the future.
PRAYER: Father, You’ve told me not to worry about my life, and yet I do. When I look at the birds of the air, I see the way You care for them, and You say that I am so much more valuable than they are. I can trust You to take care of the things that concern me. Today I give You [name your worry here] and I choose to trust You. I know You hold my future and my heart.
[i] Author unknown
