Wasted Worries

“I dream that one day someone will worry about me” is what she said. I couldn’t believe it. I was at a concert where a missionary from Ecuador was talking to the crowd about a trip he recently had there to talk with families about “sponsorship”. This was what a young 12 year old girl had told him when he asked her what she was dreaming/hoping for. My mouth dropped when I heard it. I was floored. I couldn’t believe that that was someone’s biggest dream or hope for the future. But that wasn’t the thing that floored me the most. The thing that hit me the hardest was the fact that there was a person that wanted someone to worry about them, but then I started to think about what I bet she was really trying to say. I bet that she was trying to say that she wished that someone cared for her enough that their thoughts and time were occupied with her. That she was on the forefront of someone’s mind. That she was so important to someone else, that they thought of her. Ouch! That hurts. There are truly people out there who don’t have a family or have a family that has to focus on other things to just survive, that they don’t have time to really care for or think about those closest to them. 

It got me really thinking about what things consume my time and my mind. Got me thinking about the things that I worry about. Got me wondering about the things that are most important in my life. Or what does God tell me to do about worrying? What does God say about the importance of my life in His eyes? That sentence rocked my world. 

So when evaluating the things that occupy my time and mind I came up with a few that seem to be always on my mind. Money, work, chores, family, friends, enemies, possessions, events coming up, bills, etc. You name it, and they hold a place in my mind. When I look at that list, there are not many of those things that I am proud to say “consume my mind”. But then why do I worry about them? Why don’t I fill that spot with productive things? What would it take to move my thoughts to the things that are important and worthy of my time?  

Well the first thing I started to do was write down the things that are consuming my thoughts. I wanted to get them on paper (or digital). I wanted to be able to look at them and inventory them. Once they were jotted down, I started to write next to them what worries me about each one of those. What are the roots that store those thoughts into my mind? I wanted to see how deep those thoughts are. What is the relevance to my day to day, and the relevance to the overall picture of my life. And what I am working on now is thinking through some habits that I have formed that are causing those thoughts to persist or what habits I can start to form that can get rid of those roots in my mind. The goal here is to prune the things that are not filled with life. Things that steal joy instead of give it. 

But what about money or my job or some of the other things that can be stressful and not bring life, yet they are still important? What do I do with those things? That is the next step. You see, I believe in and have a relationship with a person that tells me to give them to Him. The things that are out of my control or that are beyond my grasp of fixing/understanding, to give them up. In 1 Peter chapter 5, Peter tells us to give our worries to God (1 Peter 5:7). Right before that he tells us to humble ourselves before Him (1 Peter 5:6). You see it is not ok for me to ignore the responsibilities that I have or to use substances that will help me forget them. But it is advised to ask for help. To bring your worries to the One who can bring you through. The one who can solve what you are going through. In Matthew 6 Jesus asks some pretty important questions about if worrying can add an extra hour to our lives? And I don’t know about you, but it has never added time to my life. In fact, it has stolen time from me. 

So what I am doing now is both a practical work and a faithful one. I am removing the extra worry and time stealing thoughts about things that don’t matter. I am also not forgetting those things, but giving them to God in prayer for His guidance and help in those areas. I am focusing on the life giving things, and letting go of those things that are not worth my time. 

But that brings us back to this young girl who just wants to be worried about. And I pray that practically she will get sponsored so that someone will write her letters, send her gifts, and share life with her. That she will know that she is known. That she will, from an earthly perspective, feel the love of a community of people that cherish her in ways that she has never known. But most importantly I pray that she will feel the love of Christ. Who will love her even when everyone else fails her. That she will find refuge in a perfect Father that will always have her at the front of His mind.