my precious

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Jesus

The more I read the words of Jesus, the more I realize He just calls us out – that is, He forces all our ‘human’ cards on the table. His desire to invade every known space in our life is evident by His words that speak directly into the very problems we have - that for the most part we are unaware of whether intentionally or unintentionally.

To worry is to be anxious, troubled with cares AND to seek to promote one’s (own) interests or self-interests. So, Jesus is not saying for you and I to be carefree – no, that’s what we want to hear – He is saying that we should not allow ourselves to be consumed with our own self-interests. To be consumed by our own self-interests is to invite worry, anxiety and trouble into our lives. Any type of worry or anxiety is rooted in the fear of losing hold of something we deem as important or necessary for life (existence). Anthony De Mello called these “attachments”. Most of the worry, anxiety and angst in our lives stems from our fear of these attachments (self-interests) being threatened in some way.

“Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

To have trouble is to have malice, ill-will and a desire to injure. The less we are aware of how we have placed our attachments on a pedestal – similar to the way Gollum considered the Ring “my precious” – the more that “trouble” will be available every day. Without any assistance on our part, “trouble” will be there. To realize this, is to realize that many of the problems of this world are rooted in protecting some type of attachment that we humans have falsely made precious or necessary for life. The veil should be pulled back for us to see the responsibility each of us has to become more and more aware of this pitfall. Trouble comes from worry and worry comes from trying to protect or not getting what we have been programmed to think is necessary (or what we deserve) in life.

As we draw closer to Jesus, we will learn what is truly necessary for life – not of this world, but of the “kingdom at hand”. For you and I to truly be the Beloved of God we must be made more and more aware of our human tendencies to want a king (attachments) more than a Savior (Jesus).

Below is a paraphrased text from Anthony De Mello’s book “The Way to Love”. I’ve taken the words of De Mello and created an outline of his thoughts concerning attachments and their toxicity to the soul.

The words of Anthony De Mello:

• Your society and your culture taught you to believe that you would not be happy without certain persons and certain things.
• You develop an attachment to this person or thing that you are convinced you could not be happy without.
• You make efforts to acquire your precious thing or person.
• You cling to it once it has been acquired.
• You fight off every possibility of losing it.
• You abject (sink to) emotional dependence so that the object of your attachment has the power to thrill you when you attain it; to make you anxious lest you be deprived of it and miserable when you lose it.
• Finally, once your attachment has you in its grip you begin to strive every waking minute of your life, to rearrange the world around you so that you can attain and maintain the objects of your attachment. This is an exhausting task that leaves you little energy for the business of living and enjoying life fully. So instead of a life full of serenity and fulfillment you are doomed to a life of:
FRUSTRATION
ANXIETY
WORRY
INSECURITY
SUSPENSE
TENSION

Although De Mello is only restating the words of Jesus, it’s amazing how much we can hear the same thing over and over again and not begin actually doing it.

Jesus said to be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. To be perfect is to be the consummate of human integrity and virtue – it is to be fully alive in the reality of Jesus and His kingdom at hand.

Today, make less room for worry and more room for living life fully alive.