Kick
the Worry Habit
(Minute Meditation - September 2004)
Worry has been described as “interest paid on trouble before it comes due.” In order to be an effective worrier, we have to use our imaginations and play a game of “Let’s pretend.” We pretend that something terrible has happened and react accordingly. The stress we feel is like paying interest on trouble before it comes due.
For example, if a loved one due home at 6 pm has not arrived by 7:30, in our imaginations we can conjure up all kinds of horrible, tragic things that may have happened. We never assume something good has happened. Always we fear the worst, and our body, not knowing the difference between imagination and fact, begins to react to the imagined horror the same as if it were real. This process is called worry.
As a result of worry, our body suffers. All kinds of sicknesses are caused by worry. One reason why worry is a sin is because worry destroys our bodies. Paul tells us, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” Anything we do that harms God’s temple is wrong. Worry harms the body.
Dr. O. F. Gober has said that 70% of all patients who come to physicians could cure themselves if they only got rid of their fears and worries. He goes on to say that the illnesses are not imaginary but real. He says, “their ills are as real as a throbbing toothache and sometimes a hundred times more serious.” The Mayo brothers have said that more than half of all the beds in hospitals are occupied by people with nervous problems.
Worry also is a sin because it shows a lack of trust in God. Jesus tells us, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?...Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
God promises to give us peace of mind if we will but trust in Him with
all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. If we acknowledge
Him in all our ways, He promises to direct our paths. So if we truly believe
that God is directing our paths and we trust in Him, then we do not need
to worry.
This is easy to say and hard to do. Paul gives us the best possible advice
when he says to the Philippians, “Don’t worry over anything
whatever, tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful
prayer, and the peace of God which transcends human understanding will
keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ
Jesus.”
What exactly should we do when we face a worrisome problem? When we have a worry the best thing we can do is to first get quiet. Sometimes we are so agitated that we cannot hear the still small voice of God, so we need to get quiet. Paul tells us to “study to be quiet.”
After getting quiet, we should take out a piece of paper and write, answering two questions. Question number one is: What am I worrying about? We might think that writing down the answer to this question is not necessary, but putting our concerns down on paper helps to clear the mind and direct our focus. A recent article in Psychology Today makes the statement that writing down what we are “worrying” about puts it in the proper perspective and often eliminates the worry. Charles Kettering, who was president of General Motors, once said, “a problem well stated is a problem half solved.”
Question number two is: What can I do about it? Sometimes just getting quiet and writing answers to these two questions helps us to think of something positive we can do. If our loved one is late, perhaps we can call someone. Sometimes the answer to question number two is there is nothing we can do except to pray. Offering a prayer follows Paul’s advice to tell God every detail of our needs in earnest and thankful prayer. And then, once we have given the worry over to God, we need to let it go and let God deal with it.
Typical worriers are often so busy stewing without doing, that they are immobilized to do the very things that could solve their worries. Robert Frost has said, “The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work..”
We need to stop spinning our wheels and work at curing the worry habit – and it is a habit! Habits can be made and habits can be broken.
To cure the worry habit, we need to follow the steps: get quiet, write down the problem and what we can do, and then pray. This method helps us to follow the advice of Paul who said, “Don’t worry over anything whatever” and also the words of our Lord Jesus Christ who said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life...But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”
If we truly trust in God, we release our worries by entrusting them to His care in prayer, knowing that He will direct our paths and give us the peace of mind that transcends human understanding as we rest in Him.
Robert J. Lloyd