Would Worrying Really Ever Help?

This week on December 18 (2024), I will be having a heart ablation done to hopefully help remedy issues with A-Fib that I have been experiencing. I would appreciate your prayers. It is a fairly common procedure and I have been comforted with the thoughts that this is a highly experienced doctor performing this on me. But…none of us are promised tomorrow…

The prospects of having someone poking around and deadening a part of my heart are quite thought-provoking. 

It reminds me of a scene in the movie Bridge of Spies, where the accused Russian spy is told by his lawyer that he faces possibly the death penalty for his actions. The lawyer asks him, as he sits there in the lock-up cell casually smoking a cigarette, “Aren't you worried?” The accused spy simply says to him, “WOULD IT HELP?” 

This is one of the most meaningful conversations that I often recall through life. We are often tempted or even driven to worry about things, large or small, in our lives. But would worrying really help anything? 

My dad, Kenneth Hayden, died in 1962 at the age of 44, a month after my 10th birthday. He had cancer that spread throughout his body, over a period of about 3-4 years, until he succumbed. During this time he was the pastor of a small-town church, The Christian Church of Illiopolis, IL. His passing left my mom, Bonnalee, with myself and my younger brother and sister, without a husband and father. We made it through that time, with each other's help, as well as the help of so many in our church and community.

During his illness, there was a nurse named Betty who helped care for dad at times when he was in the hospital. Forty-nine years later (7/2/2011), Betty put the following comment on my website comment page. 

I took care of your father Rev. Hayden at DMH many years ago. I was also a member of the Illiopolis Christian Church, baptized in 1949. Your father taught me not to be afraid of dying and just wanted you to know how much he has helped me in my life, by just knowing him in the hospital. God Bless you and your family. Glad to see you are doing so well. I live in Fl. now.

This remarkable account, even though so brief, is one of the most meaningful little stories in my life. Re-telling this almost always brings tears to my eyes, as well as warmth to my heart. It tells of my dad, his faith, and an important aspect of life - how not being afraid of dying can help with life. 

We never know how long we will live, but while we are alive we can take care of how we live. And we can share whatever we can with those around us. For we never know how what we say, or how we act, or what we do for them, might affect their life at that time, or perhaps for the rest of their lives. 

When you are faced with the possibility of worrying or fretting, ask yourself:

“Would worrying really help?”

From the Bible point of view, highlighted in the words of Jesus in Matthew 6.25-34:

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'
"For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

God bless you all!