Let Her Down
“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.“ (Philippians 4:6)
Sadhu Sundar Singh was an Indian Christian Missionary who lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He tells the story of two monks who walked down a dirt road. Soon, they came upon a beautiful woman in elegant European apparel standing before a large puddle. It didn’t seem passable on the left or the right. She was stuck. One of the monks acted “inappropriately” by speaking, and worse, to a woman. She nodded her head, and then the unheard-of thing occurred. The monk picked up the woman and carried her over the puddle. On the other side, he set the woman down. With barely a nod, the monks left the woman, who went on her way.
A long while later, the monk turned to the other and said, “How could you act in such a shameful way? Not only did you talk to a woman, but you touched, no, carried a woman, touching her all over. How could you?” The accused monk responded, “The woman was in need. I set her down at the other edge of the pond. I carried her no more than a few meters. On the other hand, you have been carrying her ever since I picked her up. Whose sin is worse?”
We often carry worry, like the monk who cannot let go of the other monk’s action. We ponder it. Like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings, we almost savor our worry with his “Precious!” But the Apostle Paul offers us another way. He provides us with the way of Christ. Christ can calm our hearts and help us see the world in a less frightening and realistic way. Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving calm the soul and guide our reality.
Our minds are hardwired to the fight-or-flee responses of our ancient, cave-dwelling ancestors. In the twenty-first century, we are no longer being chased by wild animals and trying to survive with our physical prowess every minute of every day. Yet, sadly, many of us respond to challenging situations as if we are running from a Saber Toothed Tiger. Our muscles tense, our heart pounds fast, and the same physical symptoms occur when we are ready to fight or flee.
Today, ask God to address the unnecessary worry in your life. First, recognize that all of us struggle with fear. Allow God to calm our hearts and minds. Ask the Spirit to help us see the world as it is, not the frightening place we’ve made it. Trust God to respond to worry with appropriate evaluation and action. When we conquer worry, we can be like the monk, at peace and unwilling to carry the past and at peace and willing to meet the next adventure God has in store.
This Devotion was originally written in September of 2017.