Leadership Thought: Worry Words from the Great Shepherd.

Dear Friends.

Someone once said, "worry is like a rocking chair. It gives us something to do, but it doesn’t get us anywhere."

Solomon reminds us that worry weighs a man down, and how true that is. Worry is a heavy burden to carry with us. 

There is a lot of worry going around these days. A recent poll indicated that half of our population is worried about catching Covid 19 and two thirds worry about one of their family members catching it. 

Yes, we are living in the midst of a pandemic, and we are facing major health and economic issues,  but worry won’t make the situation any better. Worry will never make the past or the future any better, but it sure will mess up the present, and it has.

Where can we go to find relief? Certainly not to the television channels which are constantly spewing out death counts and pessimistic predictions.

Where should we go for our news? The Bible, for it is the only place where we can get the straight stuff. Its pages provide us with the antidote to anxiety and a remedy for worry.

If you want a worry reducer, turn to the 23rd Psalm. And as you read the first words of this best loved Psalm, be reminded that you have a Shepherd who is watching over you. And he is not just any shepherd, but he is “My” Shepherd, and just as a shepherd meets the needs of his sheep, He is the Shepherd who wants to meet your every need as well.

And He is not only any shepherd, but he is a “Good” Shepherd. Each day we wake up, let us prepare our defenses against the onslaught of worry by repeating the words, “The Lord is My Good Shepherd.” And whenever that red light of worry appears throughout the day, let us repeat them again and again. Yes, the "Lord is My Good Shepherd.” 

As one saint expressed it, “Taint worthwhile to wear a day all out before it comes." Sarah Orne Jewett from Quotations from a Christian World. Edyth Draper, p 655. And what was it that the “Great” Shepherd told us about worry, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” Matthew 6:34.

There you have it, so let's heed the words of the Good Shepherd and the Great Shepherd. If you do, you'll be sure to break the back of worry when it comes.

Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom