Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world…
There is a lot of wisdom in that old Bobby McFerrin song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” According to The Stress Proof Brain by clinical psychologist Melanie Greenberg, about 85 percent of what we worry about never happens. Yet, we tend to worry a lot!
We worry about work, relationships, children, parents, health, money, and politics. We worry about things that have happened that we can do nothing about. We worry about what will happen that we cannot control. We worry about what people think of us. We worry that people aren’t thinking about us. The sad part is that much of what we worry about or even fear is not as bad as what actually happens.
A few years ago I had a tooth pulled. It was what they call a “dry socket” which has a very painful healing process. Now I’m deathly afraid of dentists. It took every bit of courage I had to just go get the tooth pulled. So when the dentist said, “If this gives you any pain, come back to me and I’ll take care of it for you,”
I thought, “Yeah, right!” I conjured up visions of Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist in Little Shop of Horrors.
The first couple of days I had excruciating pain. I called and got a prescription for some high-powered painkillers but even they didn’t do the trick. About the fourth day I became “painfully” aware that I would have to go back to “Steve” for some relief.
I tentatively came in and told him my problem. He put me in “the chair,” looked me over, smiled wryly, and said, “I’ll fix you right up.” Then he took a piece of gauze, dipped it in a solution, tucked it in the cavern where my tooth once was, and presto, change-o, NO PAIN. So for four days I had worried and suffered unnecessarily because of what I feared would be done to me.
Worry can paralyze us and keep us from doing what we should do. Worry can keep us from stepping out in faith. Worry can keep us from living fuller, richer lives which is what God desires for us. In fact, Jesus came so we could enjoy life (John 10:10). You might say, if there is anything we need to worry about, He’ll do it for us.
We need to leave our concerns in God’s loving hands because worry changes nothing (Matthew 6:24-25). Worry will not change your tomorrow, but it will rob you of any happiness today might hold. So don’t worry, be happy.
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“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)
