Juggling Worry

Christmas is about peace, right?

Christmas is supposed to be a season of peace. In fact, the birth of Jesus is announced as the “Arrival of Peace.” However, Christmas often times feels more like the arrival or worry and stress doesn’t it?

The Harvard Medical School recently found that 62% of people have “elevated” levels of worry during the holidays. We worry about our finances, family, food, fashion, fitness, and our future. These are all called worries of provision and all throughout scripture, we read that God knows what we need (Matthew 6:31-32) and promises that He will provide what we need in each of these areas (Matthew 6:33).

God provides what we need, not want.

When we don’t think that God will provide or don’t like the way He provides, we start to worry and spin out in each of these areas. More often than not you start to feel like you’re having to juggle so many different things that God never designed for you to juggle.

I think of worrying, kind of like juggling. I learned to juggle in 7th grade. My baseball coach told me to learn so that I could be a better infielder and increase my hand eye coordination. In order to juggle well, you have to focus on the items your juggling. The minute you take your eye off of what you’re juggling, you will literally “drop the ball.”

If you asked me to drive home from work, be an engaged parent, be a loving husband, mentor my staff, and do my job with excellence all while juggling tennis balls, I most likely wouldn’t make it home. Driving and juggling doesn’t work…

But even if I did make it home, there would be no way I could give my family, friends, and business my best because I’m focused on juggling the tennis balls. [Watch Pastor Juggle some tennis balls on YouTube just to illustrate this point.]