Scripture: 1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Thought for the Day: There’s a recurring sequence in the movie 1776 where the messenger from George Washington bursts into the Continental Congress, no rx to read a letter from the great General of the Revolutionary War. In his letters Washington asks, treat “Is anybody out there? Does anybody care?” Washington had been asking for supplies for months, look with no response. Even before we were a nation, Congress couldn’t make a decision, crippled by self-interests and incompatible ideologies as it was.

Washington had to send letters that took weeks to arrive at Congress. Today, mass communications has made it possible for us know almost instantly what’s happening in our government, as well as in governments around the world (Chavez was re-elected in Venezuela. Big surprise!). Rather than giving us a sense of empowerment though, I think all this information access is just making us a society of nervous wrecks. We’re like a bunch of little pressure cookers, building up steam and ready to explode. Our anxieties and phobias are getting the best of us.

By casting our anxieties to God through prayer, meditation and other spiritual disciplines, every worry, concern, doubt, and every bit of selfishness is released from us, like steam from a kettle. In this way, our cares are released to God, and the pressures of life are alleviated at least for a few, peaceful moments.

Prayer: May I remember to vent my steam to you, O Lord, so that I don’t boil over or explode. Amen.