Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
Enough Trouble for Today
A retired woman walks the same loop every morning before the street wakes up, out the driveway, left at the corner, four blocks down and four blocks back. Somewhere in the second block she starts planning. By the time she is home she has worked through Thursday’s appointment and the envelope on the counter she has not opened, and her legs are fine and the rest of her is worn out.
The people listening were asking what they would eat and what they would drink and what they would wear. Their Father knows they need those things, Jesus tells them, so seek his kingdom first and the rest will be given to them. Then he turns to tomorrow.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, he tells them, and then he gives the reason for it. Tomorrow will worry about itself, and each day comes with enough trouble of its own. He takes tomorrow out of their hands and points them back at the size of today.
Thursday has trouble in it, and it will still be there on Thursday. Spending this morning’s strength on it leaves Thursday exactly as heavy as it was, and by the time she reaches her own driveway she has paid for a day she has not lived yet.
Worry does not stop because a person decides it should, and anyone who has tried to argue with it at four in the morning knows how far that gets. She gets a boundary out of this instead, one she can put a hand on: this street, this block, this hour, and the trouble that actually belongs to it.
Tomorrow will come with its own trouble, and she will walk out into it the way she walks out into this one.
A Prayer to Remember
Father, thank you for what is already in the cupboard today, and for the hours that came with it and the work I know how to do. Tomorrow belongs to you and it is not mine yet, so hold it until it gets here. Give me what today asks for, and no more than that.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
