“The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God’s care, as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is just as foolish as care for a day in the next thousand years. In neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything.” – C.S. Lewis

One of Jesus’ commands that, at first glance, seems comforting is found in Matthew 6.  In fact, it is the same passage that “consider the lilies” comes from.  A couple of years ago, when I started this blog, these words brought me a lot of comfort.  Newly unemployed, I was able to grab on to the words ” do not be anxious for your life” and “do not be anxious about tomorrow” to keep my panic at the insecurity of unemployment at bay.  God, after all, promised to provide for me.

This worked for me like a tonic.  So, why, now that I am consciously taking a look at these words two years later, am I finding so little comfort in them?  The words haven’t changed.  What has changed is how I feel about these words after all this time has gone by.

The difference between listening to Jesus the first time, and listening to him the thousandth time, is a huge chasm.  In other words, the first time the words “do not be anxious for your life” seeped into my life and got a grip on me, it was revelation.  An oasis of calm had quelled my anxious, swirling thoughts about what the future would mean without my job.  That calm remained with me throughout the year, as I consistently referred back to this chapter and Jesus’ words.

My circumstances are so much better than two years ago.  I have been through a year of financial success.  So, why, now, is it harder to obey the words “do not be anxious for your life?”  What happened to the faith that leapt up in my heart when I read those words?

I liken it to the difference between a 5K runner and a marathon runner.  I am (and probably always will be) a 5K runner.   3.1 miles is just fine for me.  I can manage to run entire race.  However, after 5K is over, I spent.  I am certainly not ready for another 23 miles, I haven’t prepared, trained, built up the endurance or put on the attitude that will take me the rest of the distance.

The “do not be anxious for your life” command seems so much more fitting for a 5K run than for a marathon.

It’s more suitable for a year than for 90+ years.  It’s an easy maxim to have floating in my brain on a Sunday, not a crazy Monday. It’s a nice phrase to get one’s attention, momentarily, or to help through a crisis spot, but to practice this over a lifetime?  Really?

Does Jesus expect us to never be anxious about the future?  To continue, day after day, to not be anxious for tomorrow?  We fight this attitude, as there is just too much to worry about.  The news media feeds our anxieties by broadcasting alarming scenarios of how our lives could end up – or end.  Insurance companies thrive because of worry about what the future might bring.  Fear of tomorrow keeps many people stuck and unable to move outside the confines of a small cubicle.  For some, walking outside the door is a big event. What will happen to our society, our country, our world can cause concerns that keep us awake at night.  I know, I have been there.  I am still there at times.  Anxious, afraid, and paralyzed by the dread of tomorrow.  Where will my life take me?  My worries push me to imagine the worst scenarios.

Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush and pretend to understand my anxious attitude.  He gives it to us straight.  “Do not be anxious for 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? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

That last question is rhetorical, by the way.  Take it or leave it, if I am convinced I am valuable to my heavenly Father – more valuable than the birds of the air – my confidence that I will be taken care of by my heavenly Father will quell my anxieties and still my cares.  That helps for the moment.  For the long haul, the word always matters.

What I need to sustain me for a lifetime is the knowledge that the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, His mercies never end, even when the sunset disappears over the horizon or the calendar ticks off a new year.  There is never a point along the lifespan where God gives up because a person ages out of the system.  He doesn’t decide to leave to focus on a younger life with more years ahead.