Easier Said than Done

Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all undertanding, will guard your hearts an dminds in Christ Jesus.Philippians 4:6-7 CSB

I was teaching through the first part of Philippians four last night and came to this often memorized passage. "Don't worry about anything".More than a few times I added the phrase: Easier said than done.It's a funny thing. Paul gives us this clear directive with a clear result we can count on...and yet we struggle so greatly to live it out. With directions this simple, why do we find it so challenging to follow through and get the desired results?It's a little like baking I think. I'm a pretty good cook. There aren't many things I can't do in the kitchen with a little practice. Baking is not my strong suit though. I cook best when I can just put things together which seem like good ideas to me. More often than not they are good.Baking doesn't work that way. Baking is a science. There are things which work and things which really, really don't. Not until you really grasp the way ingredients interact and work together with heat and time to give you something delicious can you begin to experiment the way I prefer.You want a delicious casserole? I'm your man. You want a cake from scratch? Not so much. I am at my best when I can do things my way. And there is my problem with worry and peace.If you read the rest of the verses around "Don't worry", you'll see Paul is trying to shape in them a whole way of looking at life that is in contrast to the way we tend to operate. Rejoice, be gentle, fix your attention on the good... Paul is asking me to rest when clearly there are things that I need to fix. And so I worry.The problem isn't that God is failing to give me peace when I pray, rejoice, trust, rest, and consider the good. The problem is that I so often want to narrow it down to, "God, here is how I would like life to look. Can you make it my way so that way I can stop worrying?"God, this pandemic has me frustrated. Between people getting sick, people losing their livelihood, and people fighting about the best options, I'm overwhelmed. Can you fix it so we can get back to normal?God, I worry my kids may struggle. Can you give them perfect wisdom before they make mistakes so that way they don't have to go through what I did?Then I keep worrying. What if God doesn't do it my way? What if normal isn't the place where God is taking us? What if it's the struggle that will give my kids the wisdom they need?I want to cook "my way" and I want life to be the same. But God never offered us that route. What he gives instead is himself. What he invites us into instead is trust.So I'll try to rejoice in the Lord always. I'll pursue a life of graciousness, giving others the freedom to not do things my way. I will pray with a heart fixed on my gratitude for what God has done and trust that he will do what is right. And I will aim to fix my eyes on the things which have the highest value.Easier said than done for sure. But for every inch of progress another foot of God's peace.