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“Worry takes a meat cleaver to our thoughts, energy, and focus.”

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World (Kindle Location 2008). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

It really does, doesn’t it?  It is so powerful.

Max says, “Anxiety chops up our attention. It sends our awareness in a dozen directions.  We worry about the past—what we said or did. We worry about the future—tomorrow’s assignments or the next decade’s developments. Anxiety takes our attention from the right now and directs it ‘back then’ or ‘out there.’”

Now he does say, “Life gives lemons to good people, bad people, old people, all people. Life comes with lemons. But we don’t have to suck on them.”

He goes on, “I once wrote this resolve:

Today, I will live today.
Yesterday has passed.
Tomorrow is not yet.
I’m left with today.
So, today, I will live today.
Relive yesterday? No.
I will learn from it.
I will seek mercy for it.
I will take joy in it.
But I won’t live in it.
The sun has set on yesterday.
The sun has yet to rise on tomorrow.
Worry about the future?
To what gain?
It deserves a glance, nothing more.
I can’t change tomorrow until tomorrow.
Today, I will live today.
I will face today’s challenges with today’s strength.
I will dance today’s waltz with today’s music.
I will celebrate today’s opportunities with today’s hope.
Today.”

He finishes by saying, “May I laugh, listen, learn, and love. And tomorrow, if it comes, may I do so again. A new day awaits you, my friend. A new season in which you will worry less and trust more. A season with reduced fear and enhanced faith. Can you imagine a life in which you are anxious for nothing? God can. And, with his help, you will experience it.”


So would you seek his help instead of worrying?  
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