Worry Is Fear's Extravagance

Worry is fear's extravagance. It extracts interest on trouble before it comes due. It constantly drains the energy God gives us to face daily problems and to fulfill our many responsibilities. It is therefore a sinful waste. A woman who had lived long enough to have learned some important truths about life remarked, "I've had a lot of trouble&md;most of which never happened!" She had worried about many things that had never occurred, and had come to see the total futility of her anxieties.

An unknown poet has written: "I heard a voice at evening softly say, Bear not your yesterdays into tomorrow, Nor load this week with last week's load of sorrow. Lift all your burdens as they come, nor try To weigh the present with the by-and-by. One step and then another, take your way;/ Live day by day!"