< WORRYING >

God is always bringing us closer to Him.

What is worry but a habit of no use to you? Worry is like getting a permanent wave on your already curly hair when you had a permanent last week. It is rubbing your hands raw, as though worry were a magic stone that, if you rub it enough, it will prevent self-imposed worries from coming true!

Worry is of no earthly good to you. It makes you fraught. It saps your energy. Must you call on it to come to your aid when it never has before? Worry gets nice and plump off you.

Of course, you already know there is no logic to worry. You cannot justify it, beloveds, no matter what excuse you have.. Worry is yelling before you're hit. It is playing a scenario over and over in your head. It is having anguish beforehand. You have had enough worrying to last you a lifetime. If worry is a price you had to pay, you have paid it. Now you can be done with it.

What can you substitute for worry? May I suggest gratitude become your attitude? Every time you start to chew your nails over something, turn your attention to the other side of the coin instead. Let us say your computer is giving you trouble, and, to your mind, you would be lost without it. So now start appreciating your computer as never before. Look at all the faithful service it has given, and given without a whole lot of thanks from you. Look at all the times it started up. It tried to comply with you and do your bidding over and over again. It was good-natured even when you kept changing your mind. It would correct your spelling but never got on your back about it. It has been a good puppy who followed you as best it was able.

When a day comes that your computer has indigestion, don't be indignant, miffed, nor worried. Pat the computer, and tell it how good it is and that you want it to be well again soon.

Many of your worries are concerned with mechanical objects, like a car; like with financial matters, like how are the bills going to be paid and what is happening with the economy; and with what are the right shoes to wear. You may also worry constantly about your health, as if worry contributed to good health, as if it were a potion sure to cure. You worry about all the illnesses you don't have, all the possible ones, and ones not yet invented. You worry about your loved ones, how they are doing and what they should be doing, and their health. You worry about the state of affairs in the world. All the while you are worrying, as if worry were a way of life when you could be enjoying other thoughts. Worry is a complaint, is it not? Try the opposite of worry. I think it is gratefulness. In any case, gratitude is the cure.

Try it today. Use it as a technique then. Traffic is bad? You're worried about getting somewhere on time? Thank God that all the cars cooperate, and that traffic lanes are safe. Thank God that there is slowing down. Thank God that you are capable of being on the highway, driving your car. Thank God that if you are late to your appointment, you will not be shot. And next time you will leave earlier. Be grateful that you have the freedom to make decisions such as to leave earlier and to not worry. Be grateful, beloveds.


				*< WORRYING >*