Chicken Little

Today's guest devotion is by Debby Mayne, from: Be Still…and Let Your Nail Polish Dry © 2008 Summerside Press

Chicken Little

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:23

“The sky is falling.”

            

“If anything can go wrong, it will.”

            

“All good things must come to an end.”

            

How has so much negativity crept into our lives? You’d think that with all the commercials about “Having it your way” and “You deserve the very best,” we’d all be glowing with radiant joy.

            

My mother was a child of the Great Depression, so she constantly talked about having enough food to eat. Some of that rubbed off on me, and I still worry – even though I have a full refrigerator, enough clothes in my closet to not wear the same thing twice in a month, and possessions that can keep me occupied 24/7.

            

While grocery shopping, my mother was a woman on a mission – determined to provide for her family with the resolve that each meal might be our last if we didn’t stock up and prepare for some unknown disaster.

            

“Why are you buying so much soup?” I once asked my mom as she transferred two of each kind of Campbell’s soup from the store shelf to the basket.

            

“You never know when you’ll run out,” she replied as she turned the basket toward the household items to stock up on toilet paper.

            

With the innocence of a child, I tilted my head and studied the soup before turning back to her. “Can’t we just buy some more?”

            

She tossed a multi-roll pack of toilet paper into the cart , quirked one corner of her mouth, frowned, shook her head, and pushed the basket toward the Spam, making me feel like my question didn’t deserve an answer. I now understand that she didn’t have an answer, and one thing she wasn’t willing to say was that she didn’t know something about the future – which brings me to my point: Does anyone know what the future brings?

            

I certainly don’t. No matter how much I plan, anything can happen. The future is out of my control, which sometimes irks me because I seem to have turned into my mother. And yes, sometimes I feel like the sky is falling.

            

Now my firstborn has a child, and I see that the world is still intact. My daughter is doing some of the same things I did as a young mother – trying her best to create a perfect world to keep the sky from falling.

            

We need to stop worrying about the future and trust God with everything.

Today’s Prayer: You’ve provided my family with so many blessings, Lord. I know I don’t have a reason to worry – and I thank You. Each day brings new challenges, but You always provide for us. Please give me the ability to be calm and accept all of Your blessings with the right spirit. Amen.

Debby Mayne grew up in a military family that moved often throughout her childhood. She was born in Alaska and has lived in Mississippi, Tennessee, Oregon, Florida, Hawaii, and Japan. Debby has published approximately 400 short stories and print articles, hundreds of online articles, and a slew of devotions for busy women in addition to more than 25 books and novellas, including Love Finds You on Christmas Morning. Visit her Website at www.DebbyMayne.com