WORRY

 Today's reflection, 


                                                                        WORRY


"Matthew 13:22: "The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful". -Bible.

In this blog, I focus on the topic worrying. Worry can be our greatest hinder from growing spiritually. Moreover, spiritual understanding and growth are important to live a peaceful life on this earth. Therefore I wish to journal my thoughts on the topic of worry.

" Life is not bed of roses " this metaphor simply means, life is not always comfortable. However, here I want to focus on how we could make our life feel like a bed of roses: meaning comfortable. The reason behind this thinking is a simple fact that in order to acquire the petals from the roses we need to avoid the thorns. To explain this in detail, we know that rose bushes have thorns on it and there are different ways to avoid being hurt by the thorn. We can achieve this task either by using a garden scissors and glove or pull out the petals while the stem is intact. 

Connecting this to the biblical verse I would like to say that in order to make our life comfortable we need to avoid worrying. The bible considers worry of life to be a thorn, that we need to avoid to grow spiritually. Just as we need to avoid the thorns to pull out the rose petals, in order to have a comfortable bed of roses. Comfortable life starts with a peaceful inner self.

Moreover, it is important to be careful not to consider wealth to be a symbol of a comfortable life. Meaning, having money is going to make your life more peaceful. However, not denying the fact, that it is logically true to an extend, but the means we acquire it, is what is important. Therefore, the bible calls it the  deceitfulness of wealth, because we can be deceived into wrong thinking which take us from the word of God. We can hurt someone in order to stay rich, we would compromise ethical values to keep comfort or simply by letting the cares of the world weigh you down.

However, ironically, in the very pursuit of  leading a comfortable life, it would lead us into an unpeaceful life. Moreover, in order to keep away from one crime, the person keeps doing many more crimes. And the focus shifts from comfort to worry. Therefore, the bible warns us not to be trapped into the deception of wealth. The Bible teaches us "Godliness with contentment is great gain" 1 timothy- 6:6. In this case a comfortable and a peaceful life can be seen as gain. And if we receive wealth by honest means, I don't think the bible discourages it. This is an observation. 

But, personally, I struggle with worrying in a way that it stops me from being effective in my work, personal and my spiritual life. As a mother, I worry about my children and also about navigating things in my everyday life and it does weigh me down. But I am so glad that I am in this journey of life with Jesus and the Bible. The Bible makes it easy for us , by asking us to "Cast all our burdens upon Him, for He cares for us" 1 Peter 5:7. Also, Matthew 6:34 " Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". 

Now, what do I take with me today, is simply that life has problems; both self-inflicted and unfair acts.  Sadly, this is the reality of life, but how we deal with it becomes important. Through this journaling I understand that we need to learn to rely on the promises of God and avoid being hurt by the thorns/cares of this world. This I think is good for me simply because it eats our time, weighs us down, making us less effective. 

                                                                                                  - Shilpa Catherine Jayakumar  


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