February 6, 2023
Be Where Your Feet Are
Kathi Lipp
Today’s Truth
So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today (Matthew 6:34 NLT).
Friend to Friend
I am what some people might call a prepper.
We live in the mountains of Northern California on 33 acres of forested land. We only “go into town” once a week for essentials like groceries (and Starbucks.)
There is a lot that can go wrong up here on the mountain.
We get snowed in regularly, and usually lose power when we do, so we have to stockpile food, fuel our generator, and charge our flashlights, emergency lantern, and backup power bricks.
After last year’s huge storm, when a tree fell on our house, not only did we lose power but also our backup generator failed. We are fortunate that our neighbors, Paul and Julie, were here to help my husband dig us out and get us to the safety of my mom’s house (that is, after sledding six chickens to safety).
After that less-than-comfortable situation, I started to spend a large amount of time planning and preparing, taking inventories of what we had, and deciding what we needed to buy. I wanted to be as prepared as possible, for any situation.
Being prepared is great.
But, there is a line between being prepared and worrying, and I was way over that line.
Maybe in your worry you are spending too much time or money, trying to prevent all the things that can go wrong. I know that I’m in a worry place when, instead of thinking, “What one small thing can I do or think through today to help our home be safer and more secure tomorrow?,” I go to, “What are the dozens of things I should be doing today to keep us safe?,” and then I don’t do any of them because I’m so overwhelmed by how much needs to be done.
As someone who can lean into worry, I needed this piece of advice a friend (and fellow chronic worrier) recently gave me: Be where your feet are.
In other words, don’t have one foot in yesterday, or one foot in tomorrow. Don’t have one foot in Wisconsin and one foot in Colorado (where your sister and your mom live).
Be present in the moment. Deal with the things that are in front of you.
One of our biggest, practical antidotes to worry is to deal with the issues that are here, in front of us, today.
Matthew 6:34 states it beautifully:
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (NLT).
We have enough to contend with today that we don’t need to go borrowing trouble from other people, or worrying about tomorrow.
Here are a few ways I apply this practically:
-Understand what we actually have the control to change. I can’t help my sister in another state with her current childcare crisis after her separation from her husband, but I can send her gift certificates for dinner to lift some of her load. I will do what I can actually do instead of worrying and fretting over the things I have no control over.
-Take care of ourselves. Neglecting sleep in order to worry will not help my sister. Neither will ignoring good nutrition. I will take care of myself, so that if a crisis comes up I’m at my best to make phone calls after work or even fly out to her house for a week to help out.
-Pray. Oftentimes the best thing we can do for someone we love is pray for them and let God direct how we are to support them. The more time we spend in prayer, the more we’re focused on God as our provider and less on our worries.
-Go to therapy. We have all had times when we need some additional mental support—especially in times of extreme worry. This is a great time to bring in an expert to help us through.
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord, thank You for always being available to hear my worries. Help me grow in my knowledge of You and to trust in You more. Please grant me wisdom to know when and how to act and when to leave things in Your hands. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
What is one practical way to reduce your worry in a situation that you are currently struggling with?
What is one way you can take good care of yourself so that you can be prepared to help someone else in crisis?
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© 2023 by Kathi Lipp. All rights reserved.
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Originally published Monday, 06 February 2023.
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