Don’t worry—be happy

Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘And so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes. Look at the crows: they don’t plant seeds or gather a harvest; they don’t have storerooms or barns; God feeds them! You are worth so much more than birds!’ (verses 22-24)

Read Luke 12:13-31

It’s a real revelation to read a popular magazine. The ads urge us to eat certain brands of food and to drink certain brands of drink—and the articles inform us that we risk our health eating and drinking those things. And did you know that people have committed murders in order to have a certain brand of joggers or a particular kind of designer jeans?

As a society, we seem to have become obsessed with what we eat and what we wear—as if food and clothes can bring us happiness. So people spend all their time worrying about what to eat and what to wear. If they worry so much, how can they be happy?

The popular song of a few years ago gave the good advice: Don’t worry—be happy. But I think we all know that not worrying and being happy is not a state that we can easily achieve. Even if we can enjoy the finest foods and the best clothes, deep down we realise that living is much more than having.

Real security and lasting happiness come from trusting in the God revealed by Jesus, the God who feeds birds, clothes flowers and, above all, graciously cares for us.

 Loving God, help me not to worry but to be happy in you. Amen.

by John Vitale, in ‘Guidance for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2002)

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