People often admonish others not to worry so much. They say things like ‘take one day at a time’ or ‘live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself’. A popular song advised us: “Don’t worry, be happy.” The title of this post was the signature phrase of Alfred E. Neuman, a fictional character in Mad magazine. For the most part these people mistake thinking and planning for worrying. I believe that if you spend no time thinking about tomorrow you will eventually join the ranks of the homeless bums.
Of course the intent of some is to console the heavily laden, to encourage the discouraged, or to lighten our lives with a little humor. But I frequently see evidence that some people take the advice literally; they live like there is no tomorrow. I have encountered people who don’t think they need to plan for the future because they strongly believe that God will take care of them. These same people believe that God works in mysterious ways, but they don’t seem to consider the possibility that the way God will take care of them is to let them die of starvation or hypothermia. I think what these people really mean is that their family, friends and neighbors will take care of them.
I don’t believe a person should spend countless hours organizing every trivial detail of his or her life, but I do believe that some time spent in thinking about and planning for the future will mitigate a lot of worries.