Turning our worries into prayers, Philippians 4:6 with a neat idea about a schedule weekly day to worry and the creation of a worry box

SCRIPTURE: Philippians 4:6 (The Message)
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.

A STORY:
J. Arthur Rank, an English executive, decided to do all his worrying on one day each week. He chose Wednesdays. When anything happened that gave him anxiety and annoyed his ulcer, he would write it down and put it in his worry box and forget about it until next Wednesday. The interesting thing was that on the following Wednesday when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that had disturbed him the past six days were already settled. It would have been useless to have worried about them.

AN OBSERVATION:
It is probably the largest understatement that has ever been written namely, worry is a waste of time … a glorious, huge, time consuming, mind boggling waste of time. And then I came across J. Arthur Rank’s idea of creating a “Worry Box” and a day dedicated to worrying.

What a marvelous thought and a creative way to get rid of those pesky little annoyances that we label “worry”.

As the sermon was coming together for this week the thought came surfacing – why do we worry so much? Could it be that we do not believe that we matter enough to God that he would be bothered with our simple little mundane worries … or, just the opposite, namely that the worry is too large for even God to deal with.

And then the mind went down the path as to just how big is our God? Bigger than any situation that we might find ourselves dealing with. Bigger than any problem that threatens to undo us. Bigger than the problem that causes us to stumble and lose our spiritual balance.

As the one quote goes, as the person was wakened at night with a huge worry, “Go back to sleep, I got this one,” God shares. So the person rolls over in bed, goes back to sleep and sleeps through the night. Or, as the scripture shares, allowing those things that bother the stuffing out of us to become the very vehicle for our prayers and petitions. May they bring us closer to God! Amen to that … wouldn’t you agree!

PRAYER:
May we each learn this lesson for today … especially me! Help us each to give the night shift to you and discover the peace that can only come through you. In the name of Jesus Christ, our problem solver. Amen