Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 6:25-34 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Someone once described worry to me as negative prayer.  I don't know that I've ever fully grasped what that concept means, but I like that it makes me think.  Worry is trying to take something back from God that doesn't belong to us.  Think about it -- we're worrying about some future event, which is probably unlikely anyway, and as a result we are depriving ourselves of enjoying this very moment.  Spiritually, we're not trusting God to provide for the future, because we're trying to figure out how to solve problems that may not actually exist, and as a result we miss out on what God is doing here and now.
  I've spent a lot of time meeting with counselors over the last 13 years.  I deal with all sorts of anxieties, most of which are much, much milder than they used to be.  It used to be somewhat crippling, as to now it's mostly mildly annoying.  The most helpful thing that anyone ever said to me (isn't this great -- you get the benefit of 13 years of therapy without the cost/time of 13 years!) is that to combat anxiety, just be grateful for this very moment.  So often, I'll be lying awake at 3 a.m., worried about the future (or the lack of a future), and I'll whisper, over and over again, "thank you, God, for this moment.  I am alive, here and now, and it's enough.  This moment is good."  Sounds simple, and it is in a way, but that relieves my anxieties better than anything else, and I've tried a lot of other things.  Gratitude for the moment is the best answer to anxieties about the future.  God will take care of the future, be it on this side of the veil or the other, and so we rest in the here and now.