dont worry.

"That night I kept thinking about Pandora's box. I wondered why someone would put a good thing such as Hope in a box with sickness and kidnapping and murder. It was fortunate that it was there, though. If not, people would have the birds of sadness nesting in their hair all the time, because of nuclear wars and the greenhouse effect and bombs and stabbings and lunatics. There must have been another box with all the good things in it, like sunshine and love and trees and all that. Who had the good fortune to open that one, and was there one bad thing down there in the bottom of the good box? Maybe it was Worry. Even when everything seems fine and good, I worry that something will go wrong and change everything."
- Walk Two Moons

worry. a ubiquitous problem for everyone that calls themselves human. worry can really only go two ways. you either worry too much or dont worry enough. the fine line between the two makes achieving a happy medium seem close to impossible.

this week in my writing class, we talked about our favorite authors and their styles and one girl shared this passage from the book, walk two moons. &omg sidenote but i loove the way that sharon creech writes. this book and absolutely normal chaos were two of my favorite books in middle school.

anywhoo, i thought this passage was so good, so true. first of all, it's interesting to think about hope and its role in pandora's box. hope balances out all the evils and negativity that comes out of the box and without it, our world would be so dreary. honestly, we live in a bad place. crime, pain, sickness, and evil await us at every turn. but could you even imagine how unbearable it'd be if there was no hope? no hope that tomorrow would be better or that God has a bigger better plan for earth and all His people. without hope, there would be nothing to look forward to, no light at the end of the tunnel. and THAT is why hope needed to be in pandora's box.

also, the idea that there could be a "good" counterpart for pandora's box is intriguing. surely there must be such a box because there are many things in this world to be happy about too, right? love, family, friendships, peace, squirrels (lol, im kidding.. kind of). but like hope was the anomaly of pandora's box, worry probably accompanied these good things too. it is so true that even when everything is going good and there isnt much to complain about, we find something to worry about, stress over. and i dont know if it's just me, but when i feel especially blessed i worry even more that i'll lose something. like karma cant handle one person having too many good things. even though i have the best family and friends, the love that i have for them makes me worry that one day i might lose them. such a strange process. it's as if my love for them exponentiates how much i worry about them. other worries that constantly find their way into the recesses of my mind revolve around my future. whether or not i'll be able to provide for my parents when they're old, whether i'll be able to support my own family, whether i'll live a worthwhile life, what'll happen if/when we run out of our natural resources, etc. it gets pretty ridiculous sometimes.

but God tells us not to worry. He sustains us and we can trust in Him. Matthew 6:25-27 says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or sore away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable then they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour of his life?" we are God's creation and He provides for us. that is so amazing. yet we as flawed humans, cant accept it. worry often penetrates and overwhelms our thoughts. therefore it is necessary to make a conscious effort to remember and to have faith in God. afterall, like the last point in the passage, what does worrying do for us, besides take away our time. our anxiety and worries wont do anything to resolve problems.

now, this is not to say that one should never worry. though a worry-free life sounds pretty awesome, eradicating EVERY worry starts becoming not caring, being apathetic. we need to be able to draw the line between peace and apathy (as bryan just stated to me via text, wicked espn). there is a difference between not trying and not worrying. worrying is defined as being "to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret". only when our troubles become a harassment to ourselves, when it becomes malicious do we need to eliminate it. we cannot just squash thoughts/ feelings that bother us because we don't want to deal with them. i feel like it becomes even tougher to separate bad worries from caring because the term "worry" has become so general. ahh.. it's hard to differentiate the two and i hope im making sense.

well anyway, i encourage and challenge you all to, when troubled, seek the Lord and trust Him. pray to Him!
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 and "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

also, encourage others! it is a lot easier to forget about your worries when someone encourages you. "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." Proverbs 12:25

good luck to everyone that has finals coming up!