RESULT OF WORRY

(I totally copied this from someone else... I haven't posted since we started school back in August!!!  Crazy.)

RESULT OF WORRY

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:27

 

The results of worry aren’t redeeming, productive, nor helpful. Worry doesn’t assist today and it only complicates tomorrow. Its ultimate sideways energy  sidetracks us from our Heavenly Father’s loving comfort. Worry is a dark alley in a loud, confused city. It's an untrodden trail off the beaten path of God’s will. Worry has a way of putting a wrench into the works of Christ. It's a subtle and not so subtle way to place our efforts ahead of God’s. Worry leads to a victim mindset. 

Worry can become a self fulfilling prophecy. Yes, we can work ourselves into a frantic state of self reliance, so much so that we begin to believe and live out lies. We predict the worst case scenario is imminent and then we act in ways that move us in that direction. We simmer in self pity, talking like a victim, then we become a victim. Worry whispers statements like, “What if you lose your job?”, “What if you have a disease?”, “What if he/she leaves you?” Worry’s results wreak havoc.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

Praise the Lord there are remedies to worry! Shifting our focus from self to our Savior is a foolproof way for faith to preempt false thinking. Self is like a jealous lover who wants to be the center of attention, but Christ alone deserves this highest status of affection. When our idols of security, money, control and comfort bow to Jesus, worry runs away rejected. Worship embraces hope as courage for the heart. Courage and hope are fraternal twins that birth in us a living faith. 

Furthermore, the Lord sustains you when you cast your cares on Him. Your humility in confessing your ongoing need for Christ leads to spiritual sustainability. Healthy soul care requires you to invite your Heavenly Father to care for your anxious heart and nervous emotions. Submission to Sovereign God precludes a position for your pride to perch. Yes, Jesus’ spoken word in Scripture soothes your soul and brings peace to your war of worry. The result of trust is peace and calm. 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I bow in humility to You, trusting You with my cares and concerns.

Sharon Bassler

Jesus Loves YOU

To have defects is not in itself bad.  The only evil lies in making a truce with them, not struggling against them, thinking that they are part and parcel of our character or our nature.  Making such a truce would lead to spiritual mediocrity.  Our Lord does not want this to happen to those who follow Him.  Jesus loves each one as he is, with his defects.  He loves us the way we are.  He has a positive conception of our abilities!  He understands us always and always encourages us to continue struggling.  If only we could realize Christ's personal love for each person, His care and solicitude for each one!  God loves us.  This is the greatest reality of our lives, the one capable of raising our spirits always, the one that makes us happy in spite of sorrows and contradictions.  Jesus loves us always despite the deep-rooted wretchedness that lies in the human heart.  --- ICWG, Volume 4, pp. 358-9

His love in spite of everything is so incomparable, so unique, so maternally tender and generous, that it will be inscribed forever in the memory of humanity... His love for humanity is very different from the abstract benevolence preached by thinkers and philosophers.  It is not simply doctrine, but life.  The Lord does not settle for merely examining human misery and prescribing a remedy to ease it.  He makes actual contact with that misery.  He cannot bear to know of it without taking it upon Himself.  The love of Jesus surpasses the bounds of His own heart in order to attract others to Himself, or better, in order to go out of Himself, identifying himself with others so as to live and suffer with them. --- K. Adam, Jesus Christ, p. 112

Help me to love You more.  Increase my love! --- St. Escriva, The Forge, #497

I asked God to show me what to work on:

We could get rid of so much neurosis and hysteria if people were taught - together with Christian doctrine - really to live as Christians:  loving God and knowing how to accept things that annoy us as a blessing from His hand!  ---  St. Josemaria Escriva (emphasis mine!)

Aging... GRACEFULLY!

"May we not fail to keep before our eyes the final destination prepared for us by our Father God.  Each day that passes draws us a little closer to it.  For a Christian, the passing of time is in no way a tragedy.  On the contrary, it shortens the distance we need to travel before our long-awaited and definitive meeting with God."  ---  In Conversation with God, Volume 7, p.73, Feast of the Transfiguration

Daily "To-do's"

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.”  --- Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957)

Wretchedness

"And in spite of my wretchedness and littleness, I have my trust deeply anchored in the abyss of Your mercy, my God and my creator!  In spite of my great wretchedness, I am not afraid of anything, but I maintain the hope of singing my song of praise for ever.  Let no soul doubt, even the most pitiful, so long as they are still alive, that they can become a great saint.  For great is the power of God's grace."  --- Sister Faustina, Petit Journal, p. 140  (which I read in Fr. Jacques Philippe's Interior Freedom, p. 41)

Discipline

Discipline yourself and others won't have to.


(Not sure where I got this quote, but it will be used for school this year!)