I have a tattoo of two blue lilies on my arm that are an allusion to a passage in the Bible from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. The passage is about how we are not to be anxious because The Father takes care of us.
Trusting God to take care of my needs is really difficult for me. I want to be in control in my life, but I know I can’t be in control of everything in my life. I also tend to be a pretty anxious person, probably because I want to be in more control than I am. I don’t usually express my anxieties aloud, because I don’t like to show this weakness to people. I want it to appear like I have my life more put together than it often times is.
I have felt anxious a lot lately. I am in a time of constant change and the changes in my life are going to get more anxiety inducing as time goes along. I am not going into a line of work that leads to a life of comfort in many areas.
One of my biggest anxieties at the moment are related to my financial situation. As I see my savings dwindle down, I have a lot anxieties of how I will have to raise financial support soon and ask my family and friends to support me as a missionary. Being a missionary is not a normal paying job, we don’t get pay checks like you do from a normal job, which is why we have to rely on support raising. This is worrisome for someone just getting started in being a missionary and does not have a lot of support.
I know I need to trust that God will provide me with what I need, whether that is through other people supporting me or through something that I can do. This passage talks about how much God takes care of the beautiful lilies of the field and how much more He wants to take care of and provide for his people. Instead of working ourselves to death or making ourselves sick with anxiety, we should first seek God and to bring Him glory in all we do. My lilies are a constant reminder to seek God in everything rather than being anxious. This idea is not always easy to put into action but I am working on it.
Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Be Anxious
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about 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? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
A friend of mine reminded me of the last verse in this passage in a letter, which inspired this post. It is so easy to get caught up in worrying about the future, but it is important to know that today has enough trouble of its own and we do not need to be worried about tomorrow’s trouble until we get there.
The Adventure's Already Started 