Worry? It’s for the birds

CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.”

-- SWEDISH PROVERB

“Why worry? Worry isn’t worth it. Worry is such a waste, it gets

you nowhere, other than more stressed,” a friend said to me lately.

“When you say it that way, it makes sense, and it sounds so

obvious that worry isn’t worth the time or trouble, but it’s very

easy to do,” I said, laughing. “At least it’s easy for me, but lately

I’ve been trying to worry less, and it really is freeing.”

My friend and I talked more about how challenging it can be to

change old habits, and how helpful it is to spend more time on

positive things and less on negative things, such as worry.

She told me that she once heard a saying that has helped her to

worry less, and to trust God more. The saying is: “If you worry,

pray, and if you pray, why worry?”

I agree with the saying, and I try to pray about things and to

trust God, but I explained to my friend that sometimes I do so only

temporarily. I told her that I do what young children often do when

they offer you a toy.

“A child may happily offer you something they were playing with,

but snatch it back only moments later,” I said. “I often do that to

God with what I worry about.”

“Remember to look at the birds, Cindy,” she said.

She then told me to look up some verses in the Bible about birds

and worries. When we hung up, I found the passage she referred to.

In a modern translation, it says, “So my counsel is: Don’t worry

about things -- food, drink and clothes. For you already have life

and a body -- and they are far more important than what to eat and

wear. Look at the birds! They don’t worry about what to eat ... for

your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him

than they are. Will your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why worry about your clothes? Look at the field lilies! They

don’t worry about theirs.”

I thought about those words on my walk the next morning. I passed

many different birds and, though birds don’t actually have facial

expressions, every bird I saw appeared to look happy and content, not

worried at all.

The songs the birds sang sounded far more filled with joy than

with worry. I didn’t see any lilies on my walk, but I enjoyed looking

at many different kinds of flowers, and none of them looked plagued

by worries; in fact, they all seemed to be happily swaying to and fro

in the gentle breeze.

When I’m tempted to worry, I try to remember to watch the birds.

Then I pray that God will show me what he wants me to do, and not

snatch the worry back. Doing this has been very helpful to me.

So, the next time you start to let worries shadow your life,

remember to look at the birds.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at

cindy@onthegrow.com or through the mail at 537 Newport Center Drive,

Box 505, Newport Beach, CA 92660.