Don't Worry (Trinitarian article)

Fr. Tony’s Letter to the Trinitarians

March 2018

Don’t Worry  

This is a Chinese proverb that has had a great influence on me.  It literally means, “Troubled over acquiring things, troubled over losing them.”    The idea is that we are all in a rat race to acquire, accomplish, and achieve, but once we have won it, we are in constant fear of losing it.   One of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism informs the phrase:  suffering is caused by desire.  

At times, our Lord seems very close to teaching the same thing: 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:19-21)

“Ask, and God will give; search, and you will find; knock, and God will open the door to you.   For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, God opens the door.   Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?  Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:7-11)

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  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?  And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 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? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’  For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But strive first for God’s Reign, and the justice it demands, and God will give you everything else as well.  So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matt 6:25-34). 

Worrying about possessions, accomplishments, and achievements takes the joy and passion from life.  John Lennon expressed it this way:  “Life is what happens when you’re doing something else.” 

Poet Stephen Dobyns also expressed it in his poem “Pursuit”: 

“Each thing I do I rush through so I can do
something else. In such a way do the days pass—
a blend of stock car racing and the never
ending building of a gothic cathedral.
Through the windows of my speeding car, I see
all that I love falling away: books unread,
jokes untold, landscapes unvisited. And why?
What treasure do I expect in my future?
Rather it is the confusion of childhood
loping behind me, the chaos in the mind,
the failure chipping away at each success.
Glancing over my shoulder I see its shape
and so move forward, as someone in the woods
at night might hear the sound of approaching feet
and stop to listen; then, instead of silence
he hears some creature trying to be silent.
What else can he do but run? Rushing blindly
down the path, stumbling, struck in the face by sticks;
the other ever closer, yet not really
hurrying or out of breath, teasing its kill.”

Fear is at the heart of such a loss of life’s joy: fear of not acquiring, fear of failure, fear of loss.

Jesus teaches us to trust our loving Papa (abba) who gives us what we need.  “Do not fear, only trust!”  Gratitude and focus on the beauty and joy of the life God gives us is enough to drive away the fear and dissatisfaction. 

Grace and peace.

Fr. Tony+