The Old Married Couple of Worry and Prayer

"Worry and prayer:they're like an old married couple who insist on having the last word.." What a brilliant way of describing the tug of war between our anxieties and fears and the desire to enter into a relationship of reassuring trust with the God who is our constant companion.

There is a lot of worry floating about these days, in case you hadn't noticed. It seems that nothing we took for granted three months ago has remained the same. We certainly feel blessed by the relative security of our lives in retirement. We have the benefit of a spacious home and we live in an area where we can cycle, and paddle, and walk with no real concerns about physical distancing. We have next to no concern about contracting COVID-19 ourselves.  Still, we miss time with family and wonder about the longer term security of our adult children's work. And when will our grandchildren be able to return to school? When will be able to hug all our grandkids again? 

On the broader scale the economy is hobbling along and international relations are strained. On the weekend scores of cities in our closest neighbour, the United States, erupted in protest and violence over racial inequality and the specific murder of a black man by police. What we've witnessed is just ugly.  

In the midst of this turmoil I appreciate the two prayers in Sy Safransky's reflection. I have been offering the "Thy will, not my will" prayer for a friend in Colorado whose life is ebbing away due to Alzheimer's.

 I also continue to pray for God's intervention in other circumstances, even though I still have no idea how that really works. I want justice for the marginalized in this country. I want women to be able to live their lives without fear, everywhere.  I want freedom for people in Hong Kong, and...and... Sometimes God just disappoints me -- your're God, if this too much to ask? -- but after all these years together I'm not considering a divorce. There's just too much love to call it quits. 

How are you doing in the tricky balance between worry and prayer? Does Safransky's metaphor work for you? 

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,[j] or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?[k] 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God[l] and his[m] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 6:25-33 -- Jesus of Nazareth