Change of pace. Shift gears. My wife and I go to McDonalds every Sunday morning for Egg McMuffins and senior coffee. Around $10. About $2 of actual ingredients or less, but that’s eating out. Then my granddaughter told me about the McDonalds app, which everyone in the world already uses that except me. We get a 2nd breakfast sandwich for $1 now and save $3. That makes it taste better to me. Don’t tell me that I am cheap. I already know that.

But as we sit this morning eating at MdDonalds, I look out the window and see some muhly grass, small cypress plants, some pansies, and some mulch. A sparrow or two. Do you think those plants or birds are worried about the future? Here is your Bible thought for the day: Matthew 6:²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Are you a worrier? I am. I worry about not having anything to worry about. I think, “things are going too good; surely something bad is going to happen!” I am a “what if” person. What it this happens, what if this or that goes wrong. People hate to travel with me b/c I stress them out with my worrying. Anyone out there like that?

Jesus wasn’t telling us to not even try to work hard and provide for our needs. The birds don’t “sow or reap or gather into barns”, but they do constantly look for bugs to eat and to carry back to their chicks in their nests. But they don’t store up in barns for the future. They live day to day. And your (our) heavenly Father feeds them. How much of my time and energy is spent on planning for the future, for retirement, for possible catastrophic events? Again, nothing wrong with insurance and retirement plans. That is just good stewardship of what God has given us. But that should not be my main focus. I need to be focused on just enjoying each day that God gives me.

The sad thing is that, compared to most third world countries, I really don’t have anything to worry about. I have money, a nice house, stocked pantry, food in the fridge and freezer, and a credit card to go to a grocery store that in over stocked with food. I have a family doctor and we have hospitals and medical help for any sickness. I have medicare A and B and a supplemental policy to pay for it. I have nice cars. In the meantime, some child is walking 3 miles one way to get dirty water from a pond that the animals drink from and waste gets into. I. saw a “Water for Life” commercial raising money for drilling wells for clean water in Africa. A lady’s baby had died from drinking contaminated water. The mother could do nothing to get clean water and they did not have money for medical help. She had a 2nd baby and was afraid to let that baby drink the only water she had, the dirty water, for fear that child would die also.

Maybe a good New Year’s resolution for me would be to try not to worry so much. As Jesus said, worrying about something doesn’t help one bit, and it is a lack of faith. Seek first the kingdom of God and let God provide. What can I do today that would be the kingdom living that you read about in the sermon on the mount? What can I do today that will help someone find the kingdom of God and salvation. That’s what I need to be focussing on.

Have a great new year.