No Worries

Generally, I do not like e-mail forwards. Occasionally a friend will send me a choice forward that is very funny or I can relate to my life, but for the most part I get these sappy cheesy forwards that just make me groan. And, no offense to any one out there, as soon as I see anything that says, forward this to ten friends and/or get blessed/cursed/a special surprise, it just makes me so annoyed I have to delete it immediately.

So, all that to say, I got an annoying forward the other day, but I have to admit it made me think a little. It was discussing the topic of worrying about your kids and if that ever goes away. It goes through various stages of life and what worries about your kids you have in each stage. It ends with the person in their 60's saying,

Can it be that parents are sentenced to a

lifetime of worry? Is concern for one another

handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of

human frailties and the fears of the

Unknown? Is concern a curse or is it a virtue

that elevates us to the highest form of life?

One of my children became quite irritable

recently, saying to me, "Where were you? I've been

Calling for 3 days, and no one answered, I was worried."

I smiled a warm smile.

The torch has been passed.

So, what that says to me is you stop worrying about your kids when they start worrying about you. And that worrying somehow makes you better. Umm...no.

I don't consider myself to be a huge worrier. I think worrying is human, it's hard to be completely worry free. At the same time I try to adhere to the Biblical principal of "worry not about tomorrow, for each day has enough trouble of it's own". I believe God is in control and if I trust and follow Him he will work everything out. Of course I also have a vivid imagination, so I won't deny that if anyone is late my mind starts going to injured bodies lying on roadsides; and I do look at my children at the top of a play structure chortling with glee and have a flash of them at the bottom screaming in pain with something broken. However, I refuse to let that dominate my life. So, what's my point? Where am I going with this e-mail forward? It made me laugh and shake my head because now, more then ever, I can worry about everyone! I think this might be the most worrisome period in life. Maybe it's just me, but I think back to high-school, and college, and I pretty much just worried about myself. Then I got married and started adding Christoph into the mix and my little brother who was in college now too (I felt a little responsible for him). Now I worry about my kids, my husband, my brothers, my parents. If that e-mail is right and parents pass the worry torch when their kids start worrying about them, that happens way before their 60's and when they also have their own kids to worry about. Personally, I think we never stop worrying. Once you add someone to your worry repertoire, they never get taken out, you just keep adding more. It's part of loving people. That's why we have to brace ourselves, face the fear, stamp it down and above all trust God. Besides, usually it's the thing I didn't think to worry about that actually happens. ;)