Happy New Year! Today the sermon was on not worrying-- from that passage in Matthew 6 where Jesus says we're worth more than birds, and our finery isn't as nice as the flowers in the field. And if they don't worry about food or clothes, why should we? The pastor said that when we worry we either assume God isn't willing to take care of us, maligning his fatherly love of us or that he isn't able to, maligning his omnipotence. So it's a sin. And since we can't add a single hour to our lives by it, why worry? |
Today Dirk and I came home in time for me to meet with some sweet former students who wanted to feed me Vietnamese food. They called out of the blue the other day. Talking on the phone is always hard with a language barrier, and I didn't quite understand the plan-- I knew they were coming to me, but I didn't know if they were bringing food or what. And then this afternoon I got a little nervous about the state of our house. We're not exactly company ready. They ended up showing up to our old apartment, so we decided to meet at the Chinese restaurant... I got there, and it turns out they wanted to take me out to eat there-- the Vietnamese restaurant would have been too far of a drive. It was so lovely! They were very excited about our baby, and it was a wonderful time of reconnecting and marveling over how much better everyone's English is. I just felt so blessed.
So lilies and sparrows don't worry about company coming over... they don't agonize over nursery choices... and God is willing and able to meet all their needs. I'm not a big one for resolutions, but I really hope that these next several weeks can be enjoyable and filled with little surprises like spending time with my students today. And that means letting go of the worrying. That's my prayer this New Year's Day.