“Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?” — Matthew 6:25
I ran across this quote from a video of a 96 year old man talking to a young adult, sharing important lessons he’s learned. After doing a little research, I found that people attribute the original quote to Eleanor Roosevelt. It was adapted later to read: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift–that’s why they call it the present.”
Regardless of its origins or adaptations, what a wonderful reminder of what we forget to do.
Yesterday–remembering the past, we can get hung up on things we did or said that we shouldn’t have done or said.
Tomorrow–anticipating the future, we can fear the unknown, including repeating past mistakes, and also not being prepared for things we can’t prepare for, anyway.
Jesus, of course, said the same thing in his Sermon on the Mount about the importance of living in the present. But he added something: Instead [of worrying], desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Sometimes when we are worried about something, our whole world view shrinks to ourselves and our concerns, and naturally so. Perhaps imagining what “God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness” means broadens our view and puts our concerns into a different perspective.
Even as I type those words, a bird is singing outside my window.
I guess that’s a start.
Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? (Matthew 6:26)