Weed Just In Front of You

Bill Brinkworth

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34

Worrying over life’s troubles consumes too much time for many. Sometimes the concerns are legitimate; sometimes they are only imaged and nevercome to fruition. We all have been vexed by what we perceived as problems.

God has much to say about the sin of worrying in His Word. Matthew 6:34 compels us to take life’s obstacles on a day-by-day account. We have a lot on our plate for today; do not worry about what may or may not happen tomorrow. Besides, what situation has worrying ever improved (Matthew 6:27)?

Looking at all the possible problems that could happen on another day is very frustrating. I remember the same feeling when told to weed a 40-foot garden when I was younger. My mother gave me the chore to weed a backyard flower patch. I worked a short time, and then looked all way to the end where I was to finish. It seemed so far away and impossible. I worked a little more and then looked to the far end. I felt I would never get finished, and that it was almost hopeless that I would ever complete the job.

Then I came up with a different strategy. Instead, of looking at the whole, huge task I looked no further than two feet in front of me. Looking up, I found my short goal, and weeded hard to reach it. When I achieved that mark, I looked up two feet further and made that my next mission. Never did I look all the way to the end. I kept making short commitments.

I do remember at one point, which did not seem that long after starting, where I did permit myself to look back where I started. Why, the beginning point was far, far behind me. I really did accomplish something. I was beginning to realize that the task was obtainable.

Again, I returned to my two-foot tasks. Before long, my next look at the next two-foot objective made me realize it was the end. Small bites at the task, and not fretting over the overall picture made the job seem faster and certainly less agonizing. From that chore, I learned to set shorter goals and to keep plodding at them until the main goal was reached.

Life has many challenges that we will face. God does not give us more than we can handle. Be concerned with what God gives us to do today. When tomorrow comes, he will also give us the grace to meet the challenges we face on that day.

“ Worry is a kind of insult to the Lord. It's like throwing His promises and assurances back into His face and saying they're no good and you don't trust Him.” – Fletcher

This article was featured in The Bible View #135.

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