Banishing Worry One Bite at A Time

By Jessica Brodie

My kids like to stump people with riddles. One favorite is “How do you eat an elephant?” Responses vary from the intricate to the mundane, with people going into various methods or tools needed to accomplish the task.

Of course, the answer is simple: You just take one bite at a time.

We like to make things so complicated, don’t we? It’s the same thing with stress. I have a tendency to take small things and blow them way out of proportion.

At least one or two days a month I typically get so overwhelmed that I have to take to my bed for a power nap and a pity party because everything I’ve committed to begins to build on itself so it becomes what appears to be a giant, immovable mountain, growing bigger and bigger with each passing day. I begin to feel helpless and unable to climb to its summit and traverse the other side. Of course, it’s just the devil messing with my head. On those days, when I vent to my husband about how overwhelmed I feel, he reminds me that all I need to do is one thing, and then the next. It’s not my job to worry about all of it at once. He’s completely right, and when I take his advice, I feel better. One task at a time. One bite at a time. One day at a time.

Breathe.

Jesus tells us we must not succumb to the temptation of worry, which in reality is a slump in faith. In Matthew 6:25-27, Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Jesus notes that the flowers are dressed more splendidly than even King Solomon with all his earthly riches, reminding us that God takes care of us even better than He does the flowers.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

We are not guaranteed tomorrow, either. James 4:13-15 reminds us, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”

One day at a time. Focus on right now.

With God by your side, remember: You’ve got this.

Today’s topic, banishing worry one bite at a time, is one of 10 included in the free eBook I created to help people shrug off their worries and center themselves in the Lord. Called A God-Centered Life: 10 Faith-Based Practices When You’re Feeling Anxious, Grumpy, or Stressed, the book is FREE for anyone who signs up for my weekly blog. Learn more and get your copy here.

(If you are already a blog subscriber but haven’t gotten your copy, just email me and I’ll send it to you.)