Freed from worry free to wonder

It was the winter of 1960. It was the year of the ice storm. All the trees were sheathed in ice. There was no electricity because of the storm. This meant my whole family was camping in the living room including my baby brother who was born during the storm. The fireplace provided both heat and a place to cook meals. How much fun can one child have!

I'm not sure my mother would remember the storm as pleasantly as I do. When the fireplace caught fire I remember the excitement of all of us slipping and sliding down the stairs. Mother gingerly navigated the frozen stairs carrying her new born son while her other seven children ranging from age nine and younger laughed and slid in front of her. Most of our neighbors had left their mountain homes during the storm to find shelter where they could have electricity. Luckily, Mother found a neighbor who had come to check on her home and was able to help Mother contact the fire department.

I considered both the storm and even the fire to be a grand adventure. I was a child. I had total confidence in my parents to take care of me. It didn't matter if I had a lot or a little because I always had enough. I was able to marvel at the way the trees looked sparkling with ice. Everything around me caused me to be filled with wonder and delight.

My adult daughter came home for a visit and she woke me in the middle of the night. The cares of the world were heavy on her mind. "Mom, will you come and sit with me a while?" We sat together my arm around her shoulder. Then I reminded her of what she already knew. "Consider 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? Consider how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet even Solomon in all his splendor was not dressed like one of these."

As we sat together wrapped in the quiet of the night we both remembered the words of Jesus. "Do not worry, saying,'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink' or 'What shall we wear?' For pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow , for tomorrow will worry about itself. each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6

Whenever I begin to worry I loose my sense of wonder. When I allow anxiety to paralyze me I am no longer free to do the tasks that lay before me. When I forget I have a heavenly Father who loves me I forget to seek his kingdom and his righteousness and I get lost in the storm around me.

Lord Jesus, I want to walk in childlike faith. Help me to let go of worry and take hold of wonder. Fill me today with the wonder of your love. Let me seek your kingdom and you righteousness today with the heart of a child who knows she's loved and cared for. And one more thing let me share this joy with others!