Wednesday; June 1

A while back I had an exposure to COVID. It might have amounted to what the CDC considered a “close contact” exposure, but even according to those accounts, it was minor. Yet interestingly something happened with me. Since I have a pretty busy June and July I started to contemplate what might happen if I got the virus. In all honesty, I wasn’t all that worried about getting really sick, my concern was what if I couldn’t travel here or speak there? How bad do I need to feel before investigating this further? When do I test? Do I even test? After a few days of pondering (obsessing) about things I was worn out!

Now, please hear me. I am not looking for medical advice – by the time this is published, the window for that contagion has long passed. My point is an awareness of what worry can do to us. I had no real reason to fear what might happen, but I still thought about it – and my thoughts weren’t healthy! Every time I coughed or if I didn’t feel 100% (which you never do at my age) it caused me to think about the possibilities. I had done everything I could do to protect myself from the virus – all I could do at that point was fret – but after a while I began to realize that wasn’t doing me any good! I began to hear the words of Jesus echoes in my head, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34). Anxiety (and the worry it leads to) are more often than not empty emotions. First, the bad most of us fear rarely materializes; however, even if it does, worrying about it doesn’t address the problem – it just uses up valuable emotional resources that could be applied if things really do go bad.

Let’s listen to Jesus’ guidance and focus our energies on the realities of today. It is all we can control anyway.

Think About It! 

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