CHAPTER 7
Set
the Tone; Live in the Moment
"So
do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each
day has enough trouble of its own.” [1]
I was recently at the funeral of an 18 year old
girl. She was severely handicapped from
birth and had not been expected to see her first birthday. The Rabbi conducting the service, her dad,
and others who spoke mentioned the fact that Louise lived “in the moment” and
they encouraged us to do the same.
Louise had no choice. She never
worried about what happened or didn’t happen yesterday, nor was she concerned
about what might happen tomorrow. She
communicated with her caretakers and others through her huge smiles and her grunts
and disagreeable looks.
The message to us was that we would gain by setting
aside our concerns about the past and the future. Our friend Roberta has lived that way for the
17 years she has been working in Haiti.
The motto she has lived by has been “God will provide.” [2] She tells the story about sitting down to
dinner with the children she had taken into her home to provide for them. There was no food in the house and one of the
children asked. “What will we eat?” Her
response was consistent with her life style, “God will provide.” Soon there was a knock on the door and a
neighbor was there with a live chicken – dinner!
I am sure there have been similar times in your
life when you got to the end of your rope, tied a knot to hold on, waited for
God, and nothing happened. Those are the
hardest. But he did promise. And he does sometimes take an opportunity to
teach us patience and perseverance - though we wish he wouldn’t bother. During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught
that we shouldn’t worry about what to eat, drink, or wear, but that we should
seek his kingdom.[3] These are not metaphors about our next
promotion. He is writing to Haitians who
have good reason to be concerned about what to feed their children
tonight. He is telling them not to worry
about it; he will take care of it. And
they look around and see their neighbors with nothing to put on the table. And he says to be concerned for their souls
and for our own. Either we believe in a
God who is in charge and who is able to keep promises and who will keep them,
or we don’t.
“And which of you by worrying can add a single hour
to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why
do you worry about other matters?”[4] The answer is, “Because we can.” And maybe, “Because we must.”
Imagine “being concerned” about the health of a
family member, on a situation at work, or a relationship issue and someone
says, “Just relax; it will all work out for the best.” Is that a relaxing direction, or doesn’t it
just add to our consternation? "Oh
bother, now not only do I have to deal with all these issues in my life, but in
addition I have to do it in a peaceful way!”
I don’t recommend going around telling people to relax. It probably won’t help. But that is what God wants of us.
God wants us to love him and trust him and to
know that he will take care of us in the long run. And knowing that and trusting him to keep his
promises is what it takes to become a confident, peaceful representative of the
truth and of the good news here on this earth.
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