Don’t borrow troubles from the future// a lesson from my mom.

It‘s going to be ok, Olivia, it will all work out just fine…” My mom would say to me as my phone would be pressed up against my ear and my tears would be on the very brink of my eyeballs “but mom what about….”no” she would say again, “ it will be ok.” and then she would say “Don’t borrow troubles from the future, for tomorrow will worry about itself.“ (Matthew 6:34)

This is a frequent conversation I have with my mom over the phone on the Race. Every time I call her up worried about my plans after the race, what’s going to happen in the next country, or whatever I may be worried about that could distract me from where my feet are currently planted. She is always quick to call me back to biblical truth and to where the Lord has me. Even before the Race, my mom would often say to me, don’t borrow troubles from the future. But, It wasn’t until the Race that I started understanding just how wise and needed that phrase is. Matthew 6 says:

25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

My mom often quoted verse 34. As I studied the passage on the Race more and more, verse 27 stuck out to me as well. 

27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? 

Can I add a moment to this life by worrying? No. Tomorrow is not promised but the Lord woke me up today. He gave me today as a gift and I get to rejoice in it. What is the point of today if I spend it worrying about tomorrow. I serve a God who has promised that He has overcome the world and tells me He has a hope and a future to me. My God will straighten my path and guide my step. Countless times I have caught myself worrying about the future but when I look back on these scriptures, I wonder why I ever felt like I had a need to worry. He has my life in His hands, I am secure. He is giving me today. Today I won’t worry about tomorrow. Today I will only rejoice and be glad. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalms 118:24 

Just a lesson the Lord has been teaching me and impressing on my heart recently!