My friend Sonya Goodson posted this on her Facebook page: “I have crossed many bridges that I never came to . . . .”

 

Oh, Sonya, so have I! And what a waste of time and emotional energy it has been!

 

I love to plan ahead. For instance, I think half the fun of taking a vacation trip is planning and anticipating all that I hope to enjoy. John Green wrote “The pleasure isn’t in doing the thing, the pleasure is in planning it.”[1]

 

But in life, planning ahead can take a bad turn and very quickly become worry. When we see a problem looming on the horizon, we anticipate trouble. We want to try to “cross the bridge” ahead of time and see how things turn out. And have you noticed that we usually expect the worst-case scenario to happen?

 

It seems to me that mothers are especially good at this. Because it usually falls on us to plan the family activities, we quickly imagine the concussion Eric might suffer if he plays soccer. Or what terrible thing could happen if Susan goes with the church youth group on that mission trip to Africa. There we go again crossing bridges that we may never come to.

 

Once when the disciples and Jesus sailed across the Sea of Galilee in a storm, Jesus said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” And when we have crossed a stormy Galilee in our lives, we often look back and say, “How silly of me, worrying as I did, when I could have saved so much trouble by turning the situation over to the Lord.”

 

Let’s ask God to help us walk step by step today with Him and not to anticipate trouble. If and when you do come to a bridge you must cross, know that He will hold your hand, for He said, “”So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34 NLT).

 

Because I can’t see into the future, my first reaction is to worry. My prayer today is that old song,

 

There are things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.[1]

 

[1] John Green, Paper Towns, http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/anticipation, accessed September 5, 2016.