Fretting is Futile
October 21, 2007 · Filed Under All Entries, HE Speaks
“You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.”
Matthew 6:27
No one has to remind you of the high cost of anxiety. (But I will anyway.) Worry divides the mind. The biblical word for worry (merimnao) is a compound of two Greek words, merizo (“to divide”) and nous (“the mind”). Anxiety splits our energy between today’s priorities and tomorrow’s problems. Part of our mind is on the now; the rest is on the not yet. The result is half-minded living.
That’s not the only result. Worrying is not a disease, but it causes diseases. It has been connected to high blood pressure, heart trouble, blindness, migraine headaches, thyroid malfunctions, and a host of stomach disorders.
Anxiety is an expensive habit. Of course, it might be worth the cost if it worked. But it doesn’t. Our frets are futile. Worry has never brightened a day, solved a problem, or cured a disease.
1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in Traveling Light
Mirrored:
I am so prone to worrying. Mistakes in the past and tomorrow’s direction wears me down most of the time. I claim that I have an ability to plan but that same ability sometimes serve as a curse as well. I should be blaming the manufacturing industry I have been a part of for more than three years. We were trained to anticipate possible failures and formulate actions in preventing it from happening – technically called Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA). However, it is my failure to draw the line that sends me fretting.
God, help me to accept the things I cannot change.
Stress Management » Fretting is Futile on Sun, 21st Oct 2007 10:48 AM
[...] Find the link to this great post here. [...]
chuvaness on Sun, 21st Oct 2007 4:26 PM
Fave ko yang DO NOT WORRY passage na yan. Nakakawala ng burden and problems
Ansarap basahin, nakakagaan ng feeling.
“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? 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? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-34).
PS
love ko yung anti-spam mo..di ako na w-wrong spelling..hahaha
ENJOY!
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chuvaness on Sun, 21st Oct 2007 4:27 PM
ay ang haba..hahaha
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iRonnie on Sun, 21st Oct 2007 5:54 PM
CHUVANESS,
no problem sa haba. oks lng bsta ikaw.
naging masaya atl igtas sana ang iyong weekend sa kabila ng bombahan.
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Shelia on Mon, 22nd Oct 2007 5:37 AM
Very, very true. And, actually, we can’t hear it too much. No matter how much you try to school people about worrying and the negative effects on ones health, they continue to worry anyway. Although it is virtually impossible to be completely worry free, a Christ-centered life and continuous focus on improving your spirit can bring you peace that will ward off the worrying.
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Joni on Mon, 22nd Oct 2007 9:50 PM
Cool! Max Lucado is also one of my favorite Christian authors. And I think Grace for the Moment is probably the best devotional book I’ve read.
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zerovoltage on Mon, 22nd Oct 2007 11:10 PM
somethings you can let go, somethings you can’t … i’m the same way sometimes.
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iRonnie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2007 11:37 PM
SHELIA,
amen to that! though this will take a lot of effort and we must learn to put our trust in God.
have a great day!
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iRonnie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2007 11:39 PM
JONI,
i love max’s writings. i became an instant fan after reading his “he still moves stones” book. i also love “in the grip of grace”.
max can definitely stir his readers’ emotions and send their mind thinking.
have a great day joni!
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iRonnie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2007 11:41 PM
ZERO,
worrying is worst than cigarette addiction. too hard to totally let go unless you go hermit mode. hahaha!
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