Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“No one can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”
We can be confused when we hear today’s Gospel. We tend to think that if something is going to be done we need to make it happen. We believe it depends on us alone to plan and engineer and provide the focus and energy to force it to happen. And we can find ourselves praying on Sunday but come Monday the only one we believe can provide for us is us. So we get busy. We over analyze. And call it being prepared. We worry and get stressed out and fail to integrate into our life a trust in God’s love for us. We call it foolishly, being in control.
The result is we spend most of our time focused only on work and forcing our will on our world and people around us. We believe if we sleep less and work more we can find that one lever that drives business for us or enables a more successful career.
If we only read more and spend all our time on influencers who sell us ways to better reach goals in life we will find ourselves far from God and still frantically paddling to stay afloat.
Jesus says to all of us just trying to stay afloat, you are focused on the wrong things.
Jesus says if we want clarity and to know what path we should be on and how to make progress in our journey, no matter our occupation or station in life… Jesus says seek the kingdom of God first.
Our path will come into place and we will find our way forward in all things when we first out God first. When we finally approach our day with trust in God first.
We still work hard and strive for goals, whatever they may be, but it could be in the true peace Jesus promised us.
If we want success, give our endeavors to God. Give them to him with the trust he will provide what we need.
It may be one of the hardest things to do… To trust in God’s love for us that he will give us what we need.
We still plan and work hard for success, but we don’t allow fear or anxiety to own us.
We spend more time with God and less time with fear.
We schedule in concrete a calendar with prayer and meditation and study of God each day.
We start our work day in prayer and end it in prayer.
We put the kingdom of God first ahead of everything else. And we ask everyday for more faith and more trust. For the only way we will find a success in this life is to first receive the peace …and love… and joy in our hearts that God has for us. Then we will find our way and the life we were meant to live. That is the life of a child of God who places God ahead of all.
Do not let anxiety own you. Give your day to God and listen to his directions. He will provide and provide more than expected.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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