No swimming allowed....

About a kilometer from our house is a beautiful bit of ocean, but it comes with a sign: No swimming allowed! I have seen people swim there. I have even stopped once and warned them about the dangers lurking underneath the surface. It seems so nice, easy accessible and beautiful, but underneath there are hidden rocks, rip tides and unexpected waves.
And a sign that says No swimming allowed.

This morning I was innocently drinking my coffee and playing catch with our collie, when out of nowhere all these worries descended on me. And I guess as a new single mother they seemed quite realistic and well, many. Our three boys were born in three years and for a while there we had three in nappies (or diapers) and soon I will have three at University. With this thought of three kids studying I literary jumped into the “Do not swim here” bit of Ocean.

Having three boys in their late teens/early adulthood years made me worry that I as a mom will not be enough for these young men. Surely this is the age they need their father more than ever. And by now the water was up to my neck but I stubbornly kept going deeper.

More worries flooded my thoughts and I felt a sharp jolt of a rock under the waves. But still I stayed and did not turn around.

And in my turmoil as I came up frantically for some air I hear these words...
“Therefore I tell you, Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not reap or sow or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet, I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you - you of little faith. So do not worry.....your Heavenly Father knows that you need the. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Worry is a lot like choosing to swim in a dangerous place in the ocean. It is a choice to go into the water. It is a choice to ignore the sign that says No swimming allowed. Or Do not worry! I allow my thoughts to go wild with worry..all the How will I’s and What ifs and Who knows what else!

So this morning I heed the sign that says Do Not Worry. And I get out of the water before it is too late. Because worry has a way of drowning your Hope, crashing your life and dreams and killing your love for God. Just like those little seeds that fell into the soil and grew well but then weeds strangled them - the worries of this world strangled those seedlings!

Do not worry.

Bella