Worry? Let's not.

Most people would agree that worrying is not a very productive habit; yet, many would also admit that it is normal and natural. Even that a certain amount of worrying is inescapable. But it really isn't necessary to worry. I'm not talking about a careless, "Don't worry, be happy" attitude. There is a real reason not to engage in slight or extreme worrying.

One night I was unable to sleep, so I got up from bed and went into my study to face down the worry that was preventing a peaceful night (I can't actually recall the reason I was disturbed). When I confront a challenge in my life, I pray to effectively pull myself out of whatever web in which I feel entangled. Christian Science has taught me that discord – from anxiousness or depression to contagion or chronic illness – is dispelled by the active application of prayer and spiritual reasoning, which is one way to describe Christian Science treatment. This kind of treatment replaces these discordant concepts with their spiritual counterfacts, bringing to light calmness and hope, safety and enduring good health.

As I began to pray about my anxious state, I looked up the word "worry" in two places, a dictionary and in a concordance to the "Christian Science Hymnal." One dictionary definition is "to give way to anxiety or unease; allow one's mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles." Then when I looked in the Hymnal concordance, I found the word did not appear. It did suggest similar words, though, and one of them was "concern." I found a hymn (No. 224) that used that word. This line from the hymn not only obliterated my worried state but has stayed with me as a constant reminder of how my thought can be productively occupied on my own behalf and for the good of others:

He that has made my heaven secure,
Will here all good provide;
While Christ is rich, can I be poor?
What can I want beside?
O God, I cast my care on Thee;
I triumph and adore;
Henceforth my great concern shall be
To love and praise Thee more.

I realized that my only genuine concern and mental occupation was to love and praise God. This took the focus off myself and off whatever was concerning me about myself or others, and lifted my thought to God, who causes and supports all good.

My thought went again to the definition of worry, and I found that words uttered 2,000 years ago by Christ Jesus supplied the remedial reply to the definition. The definition describes giving way and allowing worry to occur. Jesus counseled his followers to the contrary when he said, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

I've taken this statement as authority given to all of us by God's message, the Christ, to be free from worry and fear. We can actually be in complete control through understanding God's love and care, assured that His government is in order and that this precludes anxiousness.

The Bible is brimming with such assurances of God's continuous and enduring care for all creation. One verse, for example, instructs with these loving words: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (I Pet. 5:6, 7). Every scriptural reference to our right to be free of worry is a reminder of God's enduring love.

Throughout her writings, Mary Baker Eddy often assured readers to "rest assured." Page after page describes God as an attentive Father-Mother, divine consciousness, aware of our every need and supplying it.

This understanding of our Creator makes for worry-free days and nights.