Jan. 27, 2008<br>
Background Scripture: Luke 12:22-34<br>
Devotional Reading: Psalms 31:1-5<br>
When Valere and I wrote What You Need Is What You’ve Got, we devoted the first chapter to “Kick The Worry Habit.”<br>
I was particularly qualified because for most of my life, I had been an accomplished worrier. I worried before something happened, while it was happening and afterwards. And if it didn’t happen, I worried about that, too. When told “not to worry,” I worried about that as well: “I can’t help it,” I said, “that’s just the way I am.”
Then, one day in the maternity ward of a local hospital, I noticed that none of the babies on display were worrying. It occurred to me that they had not yet learned to worry. Then it dawned on me: People learn to worry – they’re not born that way. Not even me.
So, I came to three conclusions: (1) worrying was something I had learned to do – and do well; (2) worry had become for me a habit, an automatic response and a way of life; and (3) if I had learned how to do it, I could also learn how not to do it. As it was a habit, I could replace it with a new habit.<br>
Misperceptions<br>

Thinking about why I had developed that consuming habit, I realized I had learned to feel more intensely about situations than was warranted. I unconsciously taught my mind to misperceive events and my endocrine system learned to oversecrete hormones in response to these misperceptions.<br>
Certain outward physiological responses also became habits – a wrinkled brow (how else would people know I was worrying?), a tightening of the muscles in the neck and shoulders and so forth.
I adopted exaggerated modes of thought and speech to match my misperceptions: minor inconveniences were “terrible,” modest setbacks became “disasters,” slight pain “killed me,” 15 minutes of exasperation “ruined a whole day” and a possible disappointing outcome was, “I’ll just die!”<br>
Have I established my credentials on “Kicking the Worry Habit?”
I also came to realize that my worry habit was a contradiction of the Christian faith I professed. This is serious, because it means that worry indicates a lack of trust in God. I found that the more my trust (not “belief”) in God grew, my habit of worrying diminished. The person who worries is really unconsciously saying, “I’m all that I have – and it isn’t enough.”<br>
So when Jesus says: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing,” what is this something “more”? It is a loving, provident God. “But if God so clothes the grass which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!” (11:22,23,28,29).<br>
The treadmill<br>
Please understand that I am not trivializing the challenges of life, nor am I oversimplifying how one goes about kicking the worry habit.<br>
I do not join those who blithely reassure people, “Don’t worry, everything will come out all right.” Nor am I implying that we should just forget the things that cause us anxiety.<br>
Thinking and praying about our problems is both legitimate and helpful. But when thinking and praying slowly, but surely, turns into worry, you are back on the treadmill that goes nowhere. Worry is fruitless thinking and anxiety that not only does not help us, but cause us more harm.<br>
Here, in short, are some of the suggestions we have used and about which we wrote.<br>
•Accept the fact that you are not God. You are a mortal, finite, fallible human being.<br>
•Recognize that worry is often a substitute for doing something to meet the challenge.<br>
•If you must worry, put a time limit on it – like five to 15 minutes a day at the most.<br>
•Give time, thought and effort only to what you can do or God will do. The prayer of Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr puts it perfectly: “O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed and wisdom to distinguish one from the other.” Too many spend their energy bemoaning the things that can’t be changed.<br>
•And, finally, trust God to bring you through both hell and high water.<br>
So, is worry a sin? Why don’t you ask the Lord?