cast your cares

This morning I learned that (one of) the Greek words for "worry" means "to divide the mind." There are also Greek words for worry that mean "strangle" or "choke," etc., which I think we can all relate to, but I was especially interested and curious to find that it also stems from a concept of division...

There are SO many messages and inspirational quotes, religious or otherwise, that we hear all the time about worrying and how useless it is. Thoughts like: worry robs us of our joy, it doesn't accomplish or solve anything, time spent worrying are minutes of life that are wasted, worry doesn't change anything about our predicaments except that we feel worse than before. But I can really relate to the idea that it is also divisive, namely dividing our minds. For example, we can say that we trust God completely or that we hand over a particular situation to Him, and yet we still worry. With all of our continual, obsessive anxiety over something, we are split between truly trusting God and feeling as though we can't put Him in total control (because that would mean WE have NO control, and we all hate feeling that way). In times of worry we are also split between what we CAN do about a situation and what we CAN'T. Generally, I think worry creeps in the most when we feel like either a) nothing can be done, or b) something can be done, yet we are afraid to face it or step up. We are stuck with a split personality, a two-facedness of sorts when we allow worry to strangle us. But, and this is most tragic of all, worry splits our relationship with God right in half as well. When we don't surrender our whole trust over to Him, it inhibits our relationship with Him. We can't have one foot in the boat and one foot on the water if we expect to walk there beside Him. He is extending a hand to us, volunteering Himself to be there with us, guide us and show us the way that He has already prepared, simply out of His immense love for us that we could never try to earn. And yet we still worry.

I really believe that our rampant worry and anxiety is one of the things that most saddens God's heart, not just because He sees the pain it causes but because it divides us from Himself. It is a blatant sign of our distrust and our stubborn cravings for autonomy and control. Trust is a bridge, and God needs us to not continually hack away at it like termites if we truly desire unity with Him. On that note, worry has to be one of the devil's most favorite weapons—anything that slices through our oneness with our Father.

I know personally that many times I find it hard to believe or apply the fact that we are called to worry about NOTHING, to cast ALL our cares on Him... EVERYthing. Does that mean little things like running late for appointments or wondering if a friend took something you said the wrong way? EVERYthing. Does it mean big things like the bills piling up on the counter or an illness in the family or a child's progressing independence or whether or not you can handle what the future holds, be it a new job, a lost relationship or a scary move? EVERYthing. It is so freeing and yet so hard to accept. Everything, everything, everything... It's not a "take one pill and call me in the morning" formula; it's a way of life, a part of our walks with God, a perspective change that lines up with peace and trust and oneness. We are in His hands, and that simply cannot mean all of us except this and that aspect of our lives. It is ALL of us; no divisions. It is one step at a time across the bridge He continues to rebuild.