Don't Worry - wisdom from Bobby McFerrin and God

Don't Worry, Be Happy : Lyrics by Bobby McFerrin

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't Worry — Be Happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it Double
Don't Worry — Be Happy
Ain't got no place to lay your head,
somebody came and took your bed
Don't Worry, Be Happy
The landlord say your rent is late,
he may have to litigate
Don't Worry — Be Happy
Ain't got not cash, ain't got no style,
ain't got no gal to make you smile
Don't Worry — Be Happy
Cause when you worry your face will frown
and that will bring everybody down
Don't Worry — Be Happy

© ProbNoblem Music (BMI)

Matthew 6:25-34 CEV
(25) I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing?
(26) Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds?
(27) Can worry make you live longer?
(28) Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don't work hard to make their clothes.
(29) But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn't as well clothed as one of them.
(30) God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith?
(31) Don't worry and ask yourselves, "Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?"
(32) Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these.
(33) But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.
(34) Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.

You have to appreciate the idea Bobby is hanging out there anyway. Too often we get caught up in the trap of worrying about (insert your worry topic here) and miss out on the sheer joy of life. I have found that worrying rarely is helpful and almost always is a distraction from more important things. While you're pondering that idea, check out what Matthew 6 has to say on the topic - pretty much the same as Bobby McFerrin, who knew?

People need to be needed

Reading an article sent to me today, I was struck again by the simple idea that people need to be needed. The article talks about missions and relating to each other across economic divides but this applies across social, religious and really any other boundaries that we create.

excerpt from the article

Poor people are people. Those who live and die in want of basic needs are just as smart, beautiful, creative, motivated, holy, and wise as you and I. They are also just as dumb, ugly, dull, lazy, sinful, and foolish as you and I.

This serves as a lead in to the story that talks about transforming the way short term missions works in one specific area. The gist of it is that the local population drives the activity and serves in a leadership role, rather than being simply recipients of charity. The fundamental shift comes when we recognize that you do not have to come from a wealthy country, have a Harvard MBA, be the right skin color or come with any other credentials to be an effective leader, teacher or mentor. It is arrogant at best to try and swoop in, determining the needs and providing a solution without the guidance of those being helped.

To be in a recipient only role dis-empowers the recipients and robs those providing the aid of the opportunity to really know those they are working with.

While living in Africa as a child, I saw both sides of this approach. I saw missionaries who were so full of their goodness that they would not deign to eat off of a plate that a Chadian had used. I saw the opposite side of that in my home, with my fathers best friend being a Chadian whom I called my uncle. The people we worked with were my family, the relationships we had were relationships of equals in my experience. What a contrast and what a gift from my parents to me - I never have been able to fully reconcile the two sides of the coin but I am now beginning to understand it more, though I am saddened by the lost opportunity on both sides all those years ago and continuing all over the world even today.

Work it...

This video is more than a little weird, but after the slow start, it gets more impressive. I wonder how much practice this took?

The truth can sometimes hurt

What else needs said?

Conformity - not always the best choice...

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God.

Are you the model or are you the conforming one? Who or what are you conforming to?

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