Worry

You know when Jesus said not to worry? "Who of you by worring can add even a single moment to his life?" Well...I got a lesson in worry last week. I got some second hand information from a family member that my mother might have cancer. I let it ruin the day. I worried, cried, got angry, and spent most of the day in fear.

Then my mother called me. We spoke voice to voice and it turns out that family member who broke the news to me was WRONG!!!! My mother is fine. She had some tests for cancer last week and they were negative. Holy cow. Talk about worry for no reason. But I let assumptions and speculation ruin the whole day.

Two lessons here:

1. Proper communication would have solved the source of stress in the first place.
2. Even if there had been bad news, would worrying REALLY have done any good?

Would worry have healed my mother? Nope. In fact, studies show that worry actually SHORTENS one's life. How's that for irony? We spend our lives worrying about things that are bad for us...and in the end, WORRY itself will do the harm.