Relax

"If God give such attention to the appearance of wildflowers...don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving."

I love this translation of Jesus' words from Matthew 6. The word that jumped out at me last night when I read it to the middle school students was "relax." Relax. Ahhhh. Take a deep breath. God is in control. I can let go and let God, as some are want to say.

Every day, my son says the same thing when he gets up, "Daddy, go downstairs and get some cereal and some milk." I fill his request gladly. Would I ever not fill his request? Yes. If he were sick, cereal and milk wouldn't be good for him. Any other time I am happy to meet his need for breakfast gladly, even if he didn't ask. I want the best for my son as does my wife.

If I am able to do this for my son, wouldn't make sense that God, whose very nature is grace, mercy, compassion, and righteousness...meet all our needs whether we pray or not? Does God need our prayers? No. Does God desire to hear from us? Yes. After all, relationships are based on communication between two parties. We communicate with God in prayer and God communicates to us. We boldly, confidently, and honestly talk to God, letting ourselves be heard, and letting the peace of God to wash over us.

Relax.