Worry

Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life^]?

Luke 12:24-25

I was recently discussing the Responsibility strength (from the Gallup StrengthFinder) with a client who struggles with self-acceptance. He judges himself harshly when he cannot take care of the things that he feels are his duties to others. While this is an admirable strength, (one society could use more of, I think), this strength like all others, must be managed well. As we know, strengths to an extreme are a weakness. Strengths not managed well can cause us trouble.

While I was discussing this with the client, he was having a hard time coming to terms with his own sense of failure for not completing an important goal. He could not get beyond that sense of failure- of letting himself and others down.

He knew that the worry he felt was not necessarily warranted, but he felt like he could not escape it. He asked me about the worry. “Why is it so pervasive?” he asked. I suggested that his worry might be his sense of responsibility gone awry. He was trying to take responsibility of things that were not under his control. Other factors, other people, were in the equation and he did not have full control. As we know, where there is worry, we try to overcontrol. He had little control, and he had high worry.

This is a common issue. In fact we all, to some degree, have this issue. We try to control things, often for very good and noble reasons, but when our control is inadequate, our “worry factor” goes up.

So, what to do? We recognize that we cannot control a lot of things around us. We give ourselves some grace for wanting to do the right things, knowing that we cannot control the outcomes, as much as we would love to ensure that those around us are OK. We control what we can control, and we pray about the rest.

Prayer: Lord, you take care of the things we cannot take care of, and we trust that, Amen