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[WW] How Are You Doing? Worry · The Wesley Word

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley World.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: Have y'all ever stayed up what seemed like all night?
0:21
SPEAKER_01: Just spinning and spiraling and spinning and spiraling, worried about what's coming up the next day, what's coming up the next weekend, what's going to happen in that conversation, worried that I didn't say what I should have said in that conversation and wondering what those implications are.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: I do that often.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: I did it last night, did it the night before that.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: And here I am knowing that I was going to be preaching on worrying.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: And we hear those verses, right, that were read a little while ago from Matthew 6, where Jesus says, Don't worry about worrying about tomorrow.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: Today's got its own stuff you can handle.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: And then we hear words from Philippians 4.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: From Philippians 4, 6, he says, or 4-4, starting there.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Again I will say, rejoice.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is near.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: And then he says from a prison cell, Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: With thanksgiving, let your request be known to God.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts, all that good stuff, right?
1:23
SPEAKER_01: We hear Jesus saying it.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: We hear Paul saying it.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: We hear, I'm 43 tomorrow.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: I was born in the early 80s, 1982, to be exact.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: And there's a song, late 80s, uh Don't Worry, Be Happy.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: Anybody know that song?
1:35
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: I used to jam out to that as like a six, seven-year-old.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, some of the words that are there.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, I know I'm dating myself, but hey, I am what I am, okay?
1:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm proud of it.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: He talks about don't worry, be happy.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Those that don't know that song, all right?
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, be happy.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: He says, in every life you'll have some trouble, but when you worry, you make it double.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Maybe karaoke had actually sing this for you, right?
1:55
SPEAKER_01: With a nice little accent.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: He says, Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style, ain't got no gal to make you smile.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, be happy.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: He says, because when you worry, your face will frown, and that will bring everybody down.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: That's not great theology, this is songs in scripture, right?
2:08
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to frown sometimes, right?
2:10
SPEAKER_01: And he goes on to say, Don't worry, be happy.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: So we hear that song which always lifts my mood.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: We hear Jesus saying, Don't worry, right?
2:17
SPEAKER_01: The birds are covered, you'll be fine, don't worry.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, be anxious for nothing.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: Right?
2:26
SPEAKER_01: But with the junk, right?
2:28
SPEAKER_01: It's midterm season.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: Am I gonna pass that class?
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Am I not gonna pass that class, right?
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Are they gonna say yes when I mess them out?
2:33
SPEAKER_01: Or not gonna say, right?
2:34
SPEAKER_01: Am I gonna get a job after graduation?
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Am I gonna graduate?
2:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: What am I doing this this summer?
2:38
SPEAKER_01: I know it's not summertime yet, but I gotta figure out what I'm doing this summer.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: Am I gonna come up?
2:41
SPEAKER_01: Am I not gonna come up, right?
2:43
SPEAKER_01: All these worries hit us all the time, right?
2:45
SPEAKER_01: At least maybe I'm the only one, right?
2:47
SPEAKER_01: College students don't ever worry.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: I've been really like that's the last thing I've ever worked with as a campus minister.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: Never anything about anxiety or worry or at all, anything like that.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I've heard it happens, at least in me, right?
2:56
SPEAKER_01: It comes on us, right?
2:58
SPEAKER_01: This what if, this what if, this what if, this what if, this what if, right?
3:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, and even if we're being not just about what are we gonna do the rest of our lives, are we gonna pass this class?
3:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, even the small stuff worries me.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, are we ever gonna win a football game again this season, right?
3:12
SPEAKER_01: We don't know, right?
3:13
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, hopefully we've gotta win on Saturday.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: We've gotta win.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, if not, it's gonna be a tough retreat.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: But we've got that.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: Um, the world that we live in, um, it's not like get off my lawn, but like you can't escape the news that is everywhere.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: Every little thing that happens pops up on our phone, notifications.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: We hear about it.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: You can't even take much of a Sabbath, much of a break without what feels like the weight of the world constantly coming down upon us.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, Paul says, do not worry about anything.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Don't worry, I got you.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: So what are we to do?
3:48
SPEAKER_01: What are we to do, right?
3:49
SPEAKER_01: And when we talk about uh worry tonight, and I'm I might slip in and use the word anxiety there, I'm not talking about clinical anxiety, right, which needs a little more extra help.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, but more that worry, that sort of this it's a component of anxiety.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: But uh when I'm talking about worry, talking about what happens in our minds when we start asking, what if?
4:09
SPEAKER_01: What if this happens?
4:11
SPEAKER_01: And more so not just a one thing like, huh, what if I don't make it back from traffic and get the food here on time, right?
4:18
SPEAKER_01: But it's this meteor shower of what ifs, right?
4:22
SPEAKER_01: What if I don't show up?
4:23
SPEAKER_01: What if no one comes?
4:23
SPEAKER_01: Nobody coming back, because what if, what if, what if, what if, what if?
4:25
SPEAKER_01: And it just spirals and spirals and spirals, that stuff that keeps us up at night, right?
4:29
SPEAKER_01: And it becomes a part of us physically as we begin to worry and ask the question, what if, right?
4:36
SPEAKER_01: That's worry.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: We begin to ask the question, what if, right?
4:38
SPEAKER_01: And that's different than than fear, right?
4:40
SPEAKER_01: Fear is like, fear is like, oh my goodness, there's a grizzly bear coming down the steps.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: We should all leave, right?
4:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm scared of that thing.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: Flight or fight, right?
4:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, worry is like, what if a grizzly bear were to come down, right?
4:51
SPEAKER_01: What if it took out Sydney and then Emily Grease and then Ian?
4:54
SPEAKER_01: I think I could jump over Krista and get out in time, but I don't know, right?
4:57
SPEAKER_01: There's like that like what if things, right?
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, but what are we to do?
5:02
SPEAKER_01: I think first we'll look at some scripture stuff, right?
5:05
SPEAKER_01: We looked at what we read tonight, and God sort of says in Matthew 6, as he's kind of getting into the middle of the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: He says, I got you.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: He says, I got you.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: He says, I take care of the birds, right?
5:17
SPEAKER_01: What do the birds do?
5:18
SPEAKER_01: They just like fly around and chirp and like eat worms all day, right?
5:21
SPEAKER_01: I take care of them.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: Don't you think I would take care of you as well?
5:25
SPEAKER_01: The lilies of the field, they're gonna be burned up and plucked up in just a little while, and I'm taking care of them.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: Don't you think I've got you as well?
5:34
SPEAKER_01: He goes on to say.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: They've done some uh studies as well on our worries and stuff, and they said uh they did some research.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh I didn't do the research, I looked at the research, and they said uh a couple years ago a study was done.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: They said, out of all the things that we worry about, all the what-ifs that we play out in our mind, around 85% of the time, none of them ever happens, right?
5:55
SPEAKER_01: None of the stuff that we worry about ever happens.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: And the research has found that out of the 15% of stuff that may happen, 80% of that people that come out on the other side were like, oh, it really wasn't as bad as I thought.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: Or actually, I stepped up and I handled that, and it really wasn't that big a deal.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: And so you're looking at such a small, small percentage of the things that we typically worry about that actually come to fruition, right?
6:18
SPEAKER_01: Just a little bit.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus tells us in the in the in the the Sermon on the Mount, he says, strive for the kingdom of God.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: Strive after me, strive after me and my righteousness and all these things.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: I will take care of you.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: Today's trouble is enough for today.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: Which I'm like, Jesus, that's not quite comforting, but I get what you're saying, right?
6:41
SPEAKER_01: And what he's saying there, which I think is important as we think about not spreading a gospel light, is to recognize that there are going to be hard times.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: There are gonna be times when we are worried.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: There are gonna be times when we do ask, what if, right?
6:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, but what we're trying to watch out for is that perpetual worry and that perpetual anxiety.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: I like how Max Locato talks about it.
7:00
SPEAKER_01: He's got a book, Anxious for nothing.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: And he talks about, he says, the presence of anxiety and worry is unavoidable, but the prison of worry and anxiety is optional, right?
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Things are gonna come up, but it's up to us whether or not we're gonna allow it to be a prison for us and to hold us in.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: And if you look at Philippians 4, 4 through 8, they shine some light.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not a big acronym guy, but we're gonna go with an acronym tonight that I saw and made a lot of sense and sort of fleshed it out as we think about how it is that we might overcome the worry, the perpetual worry that sometimes we struggle with.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: And these are some things, and again, it takes work.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: It takes work.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: It's not just for me, it's not as easy, maybe you got it, but like to say just to sing the song, don't worry, be happy, like that makes me happy for the time that I'm singing the song.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: And then I turn it off and I'm like, oh my goodness, what if all this stuff happens and comes crashing down, right?
7:49
SPEAKER_01: So the first one, we're going with Calm.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: That's a good acronym, right?
7:52
SPEAKER_01: C-A-L-M.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: Calm.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: Not C-L-E-M, but um Calm.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: C-A-L-M.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: The C there, to think about what it might mean as we go through our lives worried, to kind of help us get through the worry, is to celebrate God's goodness.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: To celebrate God's goodness, right?
8:08
SPEAKER_01: What I mean by that is, yeah, problems are real, and you gotta go through it.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: You gotta walk through the valleys, you gotta walk through sometimes and tackle the what-ifs head on.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes in the midst of it all, you do need to just take a pause.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: Take a pause and step back into worship.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: And to worship and say, I'm going through these troubles of times, but I'm gonna worship the God who created me.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm going through these troubled times, but I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna worship the God who redeems me.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna worship the God who pours out God's Spirit to sustain me.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna worship the God who sat on the Sermon of the Mount and taught and said, The birds of the air will be covered, the lilies of the field will be covered.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: How much more will I cover you, my beloved child?
8:43
SPEAKER_01: And to step back into worship.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: That's part of why we do this each week on a Wednesday night or on a Sunday morning.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: You go and all the things are around you.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: You can bring your baggage, you can bring everything with you when you go into worship, but you go and you pause amidst all the things that may be going on, good or bad in life, and you pause and say, You are God.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: You are big, you are worthy of my praise.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: And we get this sort of deep breath and be able to come back and to go in it again.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: I learned this um as a parent, right?
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Um I think I'm the only one with teenagers in here, right?
9:15
SPEAKER_01: I think so.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, like when my kids were like, they're not in here, they don't listen to the podcast, so it's all good.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: But when they were like two to four, oh my goodness, they would be screaming.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Finley, like had she like at like three months old, was like, you know what?
9:28
SPEAKER_01: I love my dad.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to spend time with him.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna scream all night from 10 p.m.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: to at least 3 a.m., right?
9:33
SPEAKER_01: And she was like a little like I can't say that word, but she was something, let me tell you.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: And there will be times though, as a parent, where I'd you we were so frustrated and so stressed, but we just had to set them down in the crib or set them down in their room and walk away.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: And walk away so that we didn't do anything that we would regret, but walk away, take a deep breath.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, God, I'm thankful that I'm a father.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm thankful for these beloved children that you've entrusted me with, right?
9:57
SPEAKER_01: And be able to step back in, right?
9:59
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we need to take a breath, stop, celebrate God's goodness, and then enter back in.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Right?
10:05
SPEAKER_01: The next thing in the acronym, we got so we got to celebrate God's goodness, and this is a big one, the A that's there.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes we gotta ask for God's help.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: We often want to do things on our own.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm notorious for trying to do things on my own.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: But think about even in the story of feeding the 5,000, right?
10:22
SPEAKER_01: Feeding the 5,000.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: If you're with that story, there's a few fish, a few loaves, right?
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's all these people that have gathered around wanting to hear Jesus.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: They are starving.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: It's getting it late, it's time to eat, right?
10:32
SPEAKER_01: And the disciples, they come up with this great plan for all these 5,000 people that are starving, right?
10:38
SPEAKER_01: They huddle up together, little disciples, like, okay, okay, okay, okay, good idea.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, they're hungry, we're gonna send them home hungry.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: That was the plan.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: That was the disciples' plan, right?
10:47
SPEAKER_01: They're hungry, let's send them wait hungry, right?
10:50
SPEAKER_01: Not thinking that maybe, maybe they should ask Jesus for help.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the guy that they had seen cast out demons, maybe the guy they had seen calm a stormy seas, maybe the guy they had seen heal people who were sick, maybe the guy that they saw turn, they like the party was out of wine, they had a bunch of water, and like boom, bang, party, wedding's happening, it's like it's gonna be a good time, right?
11:11
SPEAKER_01: Maybe asking the guy that conformed these miracles, maybe we should ask him for help.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, Y'all crazy?
11:18
SPEAKER_01: We're not sending away hungry.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Watch this, right?
11:21
SPEAKER_01: And feeds and has this miracle.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: How often are we?
11:26
SPEAKER_01: We're not trying to feed 5,000 hungry folks, but how often are we trying to get through struggling, maybe grieving or mourning a loved one?
11:33
SPEAKER_01: Or we're going through some discernment, trying to figure out what should I do with my life or what should I do next semester, or or where should I go, or what should I do?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: Who should I handle I live?
11:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm going through this loneliness, I'm going through this tough time.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: Do we just take it all in ourselves and not go to the one that can handle everything and say, Jesus, can you help me?
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Can you give me some guidance?
11:53
SPEAKER_01: Can you give me some clarity?
11:55
SPEAKER_01: Can you put someone in my life that maybe might help me out?
12:00
SPEAKER_01: Um in his book, In Dance of Hope, Bill Fry tells a story.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, I thought it's a cool story.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: He talks about as a young child, um, he was probably 11 at the time, and he was always in charge of going out and collecting firewood.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: And he found that if you go get the stumps of like the old pine trees, that that would help.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: Um they burned real easy, it was good kindling, you'd get the fire going.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: And he talks about um when he was about 11 years old, he went out there and he found this stump that he had to get up.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: And he said he spent the whole day, the whole day just digging down, just digging, digging, digging, digging around, trying to, you know, shake it loose, couldn't get it.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: And finally his dad comes home from work and his dad's looking at him, he's like, How's it going?
12:35
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm trying to, you know, the stump will come out.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: I've done everything.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: His dad, like, you haven't done everything, you haven't used all your strength.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Yes, I like goes off on his dad, right?
12:44
SPEAKER_01: Like, you kidding me, I've done all day.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm exhausted.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: And that's like, you haven't used all your strength.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: He's like, What are you talking about?
12:50
SPEAKER_01: His dad was like, You haven't asked me for help.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: And dad shows up in like good dad's strength and starts digging it out and puts the chain around the from the truck to the to the stump and just you know pulls it out and you know, no problem, right?
13:04
SPEAKER_01: How many times are we not willing to use all of our help?
13:08
SPEAKER_01: To use the help that God promised to walk with us and use it to help.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes our the business of worry and anxiety, the management, it's like it's like trying to pull up a stump sometimes.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: If you ever try to do that, it's real impossible.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: I might need some help with that big one on the hill.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna work on that maybe with sometime if the city doesn't take care of it, right?
13:22
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes the roots of those stumps are so down in there, the root systems are so ingrained that the only way to get them up, and not just a stump, but our own worry, our own stresses, is to ask for help and to get help digging it up, to get to help get those roots up and to do it.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: And maybe that is asking for prayer and asking Jesus to come and help.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's not just God, will you remove this from my life or help me get through it?
13:50
SPEAKER_01: But maybe it's God, will you help me find a good counselor?
13:52
SPEAKER_01: Being specific.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: God, will you put somebody in my life that can help me walk through this with me?
13:56
SPEAKER_01: God, will you put somebody in my life that can talk me through this and go through it?
14:00
SPEAKER_01: I told you I stayed up last night and the night before, not so much last night, two nights before that.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: Like every night I was up.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: I got a lot of things I'm worrying about.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to share all this stuff.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: It's not major, but just it just consumes me.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Like the last month and a half, I've had the same worries every single day of my life.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: And it just it's it's consuming me right now.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: And I was preparing for this, and I was like, well, I guess I'm talking about it.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: I probably should do it, right?
14:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, God, help me.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, hey, uh, dummy.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Um he didn't say that.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what I felt like, right?
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, uh rather God say, like, oh, beloved child of God, I got this for you.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: But so he was like, dummy.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, your old campus minister, Lane, who lives in the area, who moved literally across the street, the neighborhood across the street, who you're good friends with, who's always been a great guide and mentor to you.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: You're thinking about maybe calling him.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I should probably call Lane.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: And so I call him.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: We go and have breakfast, and just being able to share my stuff with someone who had been through some of the stuff that I was worried about, and to begin to say, you know, don't worry about these what-ifs.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: Look at what's happening around you.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: Like I slept last night for the first time in a while.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: Being willing to ask God for help, ask God to intervene, ask God to put other people in your life, ask God to find ways that you might walk through it.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: So celebrate God's goodness, ask for God's help.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: And the third thing on that L here, um, sometimes I think we forget sometimes, is it's okay to leave your concerns with God.
15:24
unknown: Right?
15:25
SPEAKER_01: Leave your concerns with God.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: God can take it, right?
15:28
SPEAKER_01: God is big enough to handle it.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: And when we do that, we begin to go towards this trust.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: When we leave things with God, we start to move towards trust.
15:35
SPEAKER_01: Because if you look at the spectrum of worry and trust, they're at opposite ends of the spectrum, right?
15:39
SPEAKER_01: When we worry too much, we're not trusting enough, right?
15:42
SPEAKER_01: And the more we lean towards trust, the less worry we have.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know about I'm not good on the polarization because even when I'm trusting like God, I'm trusting you on this, but I don't know, I'm a little worried.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: But our goal is to trust God a little bit more, right?
15:54
SPEAKER_01: In the Greek, the compound, right, as a verb is to divide, and the the noun is mind.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: And when we worry, we divide our mind.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: When we can leave it to God, go to God and say, God, I'm trusting you with this, I'm leaving this with you.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: It not only helps us feel a little better, but it frees up our mind and frees up space for good.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: So celebrate God's goodness.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: Ask God for help, leave your concerns with God.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: And again, these are very practical things, I hope.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: And the last thing on the M, don't forget to meditate on the good things.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: Even in your most worrisome time, don't forget to meditate on the good things.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: When I'm at my best, not always at my best, but when I'm at my best, spiritually, physically, emotionally, I'm pretty active in keeping a gratitude journal.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Right?
16:40
SPEAKER_01: Daily, having something to write down, taking pause to be able to say, yeah, it looks like the whole world's crumbling, but God, I'm thankful that you've done this.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: God, I'm thankful that I can see you in this spot.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking I can see you here and there.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: And to take time to be present in the moment.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: And I know it's a silly cliche, but I really think as you practice a discipline of gratitude, it does shape your attitude.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: And as you were, as you focus on gratitude and meditating on the good things that God has done in your life, I truly believe that it lessens our worry a bit.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: I talked about Max Locato, he's got a lot of good books.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are agree with, some I don't, but I love them there.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: And he talks about, he says, um, that was kind of cool.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: He says, Life is gonna give us lemons.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: Life is gonna give us lemons.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: It happens.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: Now, most of you would say, make lemonade.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: I like his a lot better.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: He says, Life is gonna give you lemons, gonna give us all lemons, but we don't have to suck on them and be sour all the time, right?
17:33
SPEAKER_01: It goes back to that attitude of how we respond to the things that are happening around us.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, he also said you can be the traffic, air traffic controller of your own mental airport, right?
17:42
SPEAKER_01: You occupy the control tower, and you can have direct control over the mental traffic of your world.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: How you approach the difficult times, how you approach the what-ifs go a long way in how you deal with worry.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: So, sort of wrapping up, last little point, little story.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: Um I turned 43 tomorrow.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: I told you that I mentioned that.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, what I've learned is that worrying solves just about nothing.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Typically, it usually only makes it worse because I build it up in my head so big, and that sometimes I can't even don't even know what to do, what to deal with.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: So, what are we to do about it?
18:21
SPEAKER_01: Um I I don't remember a whole lot of wisdom that my parents uh like passed down to me, but I do remember this one time I was probably 10, 11 years old in my dad's backyard, and I was I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, y'all.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: And I'm pretty sure at the time I probably wrote a note to a girl, was like, I like you, do you like me back?
18:39
SPEAKER_01: And I was waiting for that response, and that was probably what was weighing me down, just to be honest where I was at 11 years old.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, or maybe a test or something like that.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: And I was super worried, and I I still remember my dad like taking me off like the playground jungle gym and and talking to me, and he he he draws a big circle, right, in the in the dirt, big circle in the dirt.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, all these things that you're that you're worried about, um, Stevie again, oh Stevie back then.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: He's like, all the things that you're worried about, all these things, you know, let's made the list.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: He's like, what are the things that you actually can control, that you can do something about?
19:15
SPEAKER_01: And I listed off some things, right?
19:17
SPEAKER_01: He's like, what are the things that you can't do anything about?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: I listened to those about.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: He said, all the things that you just talked about, things that you can do something about.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: He said, put them, put them in this inner circle, right?
19:26
SPEAKER_01: I still remember this like 30 something years ago.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Put them in the inner circle.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Everything that you can't control, put them in that outer circle.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, all right, Dad, I'm getting this visual, okay?
19:34
SPEAKER_01: And then he literally picks me up and he puts me in that inner circle.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: He says, now block out everything outside this circle.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: And all the things that are inside this circle that you can control, all the things that you're worried about that you can do something about, you start working on those.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Block the other stuff out and grind on what's in that circle and what you can control, right?
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes we get worried, right?
19:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, you might be worried about where in the world is this, is this country going, right?
20:00
SPEAKER_01: We got all kinds of stuff going, right?
20:02
SPEAKER_01: You all, I'm pretty sure now are all eligible to vote.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: Almost everybody's 18, yes, probably thumbs up, yeah, right?
20:07
SPEAKER_01: You can make a difference right next time that we have elections.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: You can make a difference in the way that you go out and support and advocate for whatever it is that you might be passionate about.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: You might be thinking, I wish Clemson Wesley was a little more hospitable.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: I wish Clemson Wesley was doing a little bit more of this.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: And I'm worried about what if we don't do that?
20:21
SPEAKER_01: You have the power to work and to grind and the things that you can control to be about.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm worried, am I gonna pass this class?
20:27
SPEAKER_01: Am I gonna know what I'm doing next summer?
20:29
SPEAKER_01: What am I gonna do?
20:29
SPEAKER_01: You can sit in your dorm room and just stress out about it.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: Or you can say, these are the things that I can control.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: I can manage my time better and make sure that I'm putting in the hours of studying.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: I can make sure that I'm pouring into the relationships that matter to me because I'm worried, am I gonna have any friends?
20:42
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe I need to put the effort into making sure that I'm engaging those that engage back and are meaningful to me.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: What am I gonna do in my life?
20:49
SPEAKER_01: We just had a career fair last week, I think, right?
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Spend your time, spend your energy controlling the things that you can control.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: Celebrate God's goodness, ask for help, leave it at the foot of the cross, and don't forget to meditate and look around.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: And oftentimes when you pick your head up, you realize life ain't as bad as I think it is, right?
21:10
SPEAKER_01: Tell us tonight, and I don't have a title for this series, but if I was doing last week and this week and where we're going next week, to be honest, it's really kind of where I'm at personally.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Um these questions of like, how you doing?
21:23
SPEAKER_01: Right?
21:24
SPEAKER_01: What are you worried about?
21:25
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
21:26
SPEAKER_01: What are you worried about?
21:27
SPEAKER_01: If we're honest for ourselves, most of us worry, and some of us probably worry a lot more than we should.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm the first to admit that I am, right?
21:34
SPEAKER_01: But when I practice these disciplines of celebrating and making sure I'm celebrating and worshiping God, when I ask for help and ask God specific things, specifically to put people in my life to help me with this, right?
21:44
SPEAKER_01: It becomes more manageable when I leave it at the cross, when I meditate on good things.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Close in our prayer.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: Um Reinhold Nieber did, I think it was the first one, I think, to write the Serenity Prayer.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: You may um recognize that uh sometimes our 12-step programs using other folks.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read pray for us the old version, the original version, as we sort of close in our prayer tonight, and then we'll have our band come up and and sing and close us with our last song.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: But close your eyes for me.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Close your eyes.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: And take a brief second as your eyes are closed to think about all the things that have been swirling around in your brain, in your heart, in the last couple of days.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Take a quick moment to think about the ways in which God has moved, and we give God thanks for that.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: Take a quick moment to think about the good that's in your life.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: Take a quick moment to ask God for the help that God can provide.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: But all the troubles and the worries and the what-ifs that are swirling around.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Imagine being able to draw a circle in front of you.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: And the ones that you can control, I want to invite you to put in there.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: The ones that you can't put on the outside.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: Be willing to ask God for help.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: So I pray this prayer.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: Father, give us the courage to change what must be altered, the serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Or more common language.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
23:32
SPEAKER_01: Holy and gracious God, we are thankful that you are with us through the thick and the thin.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: Calm our hearts, O God.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: Walk with us in the midst of the good times and the worrisome times.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: May we indeed lean on you more now than ever.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: We ask all this in Christ's holy name.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.