June 30th, 2008
My Wallet is Preaching to Me
You know sometimes God just reminds you about stuff when you least expect it. My wallet was getting obnoxiously fat today (not from money of course) so I decided to do a bit of spring cleaning. I went through and removed unneccesary receipts, took out business cards collected from contacts, and shed old membership cards (blockbuster, etc.). As I was hunting through I stumbled upon a folded piece of paper in the “hidden” fold of my wallet, usually the place where I put mementos or little keepsakes.
As I unfoled this mysterious little slip of paper I realized that it was much more than a just a scripture quote, but God preaching to me through my wallet. Life has been really busy recently. I just got married, we are swamped at work (which is awesome), and I am trying to transition my life from single and living in a suitcase to married and having a home all the while budgeting and planning our future life. What new bills do we have, how much is the insurance going to be with two people, grocery budgets, and everything else that newly married couples are hit with in the first few weeks! All kinds of things swarm through my head during the day and then amidst the chaos God drops this note on me.
From the Sermon on the Mount, Gospel of St. Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I bid you put away anxious thoughts about food and drink to keep you alive, and clothes to cover your body. Surely life is more than food, the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow and reap and store in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You are worth more than the birds! Is there a man of you who by anxious thought can add a foot to his height? And why be anxious about clothes? Consider how the lilies grow in the fields; they do not work, they do not spin; and yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendor was not attired like one of these. But if that is how God clothes the grass in the field, which is there today, and tomorrow is thrown on the stove, will he not all the more clothe you? How little faith you have! No, do not ask anxiously, “What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What shall we wear?’ All these are things for the heathen to run after, not for you, because your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your mind on God’s kingdom and his justice before everything else, and all the rest will come to you as well. So do not be anxious about tomorrow; tomorrow will look after itself. Each day has troubles enough of its own.”
