Real Challenges: Two Remedies to Worrying About the Future
Gratitude
Look for the Lord’s daily bread:
I often find that when I am overly concerned about the future part of the problem is that I’m not recognizing the gifts that the Lord is giving me right now. If you think about it, when we’re worrying about the future we’re focusing on things that we don’t have or things that we think we may lose. The Lord wants us to focus on what we do have knowing that He provides us with everything that we need to get through each day—even the more difficult ones. Next time you are overly worried about the future, try taking a deep breath and looking for the present gifts that are all around you: friends, your children, the beauty of nature, your church, revelation, life, etc. You may be surprised at how much the present day has to offer. The Lord knows that it can be difficult for us to recognize the precious gifts that are all around us! It’s not by accident that He chose to put these words in His prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread” –Matthew 6:11.
Service
Focus on serving the Lord and others:
Another thing to think about is the fact that worrying about the future is often a selfish thing. If you want to learn to live more in the present, try looking for ways that you can better serve the Lord and your neighbor. One thing that has always impressed me is that if I can learn to stop thinking about my own worries and concerns there is never a lack of useful things that I can do in the present for other people. The New Church teaches that the happiness of angels comes solely from their life of service. If we too can focus on this we will find that our concern for the future is quickly taken away and replaced with a much greater happiness in serving others.
Remember that the Lord doesn’t exist in the past or in the future. He exists right here, right now, in the moment that we call the present: “The more interior and perfect angels are the less do they care about things of the past or think about those of the future; this is also the origin of their happiness. They have said that the Lord provides them every moment with what to think, accompanied by blessing and happiness, and that this being so they have no cares and no worries” –Secrets of Heaven 2493.
By Rev. Matthew Genzlinger, pastor of the New Church in Concord
Massachusetts
