Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. ... Philippians 4:6-7
These words sound an awfully lot like an impossible demand on us. "Have no anxiety about anything ..." There are any number of things to make us anxious each day -- our families, our health, our jobs, our world situation, and the list could go on and on and on. So the exhortation to have no anxieties sounds impossible. Except that it is followed by a promise. A promise that says we can turn our anxieties over to God. A promise that says we are not in this life alone, our burdens are not ours alone, our needs and worries are not for us to hoard or harbor. God's peace will flow over and through us keeping our minds and hearts centered on Jesus, not on our own anxious thoughts. Thanks be to God.
May your promises wash over us, Gracious God, and your peace fill us today. Take away the cares and worries that distract us from keeping our hearts and minds on Jesus. ... Amen
Contributed by Pastor Tracie
Published Sunday February 13, 2005
Week 12 of Liturgical Year A