Lay it Down

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you (Psalm 55:22).

Yesterday morning as I chased a nearly three year old around the house, trying to get his collared shirt over his head for church, I decided that I was going into the service that morning with a good attitude. I was going to leave my troubles, concerns, and anxiety at the door so that I could worship with my whole heart and give our pastor my full attention. Who knows, maybe I'd even learn something!

So we got the boys dressed, I put on my denim skirt and V neck black shirt and slid on a pair of flip flops and we were out the door. I was sure to think of positive things only, not allowing myself to make a mental list of the chores to be done the following week (or to mentally plan the Moose A Moose and Zee cake I've got to make for my baby's first birthday in two weeks).

We dropped the kids off in the children's' area and headed to the sanctuary. And then it hit me. Right in the middle of the first worship song. Jesus doesn't want me to leave my troubles by the door, where I can pick them back up on the way out! He wants me to leave them at his feet so that I can worship with a whole heart everyday!

Part of me seriously wonders why it took me years to finally grasp this concept. I had read all about casting my anxiety and troubles on the Lord but I just didn't think he'd particularly care about birthday cake anxiety of the Moose A Moose variety. I had just figured when we had bigger problems, I'd then work on handing THOSE over.

But what does it mean to cast one troubles onto the Lord? Is it that simple-- just to say "Lord, I cast my troubles onto you." ? Webster's Dictionary defines cast as "to throw off or away... : to get rid of : discard : shed, molt. " Is it easy to simply shed or discard our anxiety, fear, worry, and concern? How do we lay this all at the feet of the Lord?

Thoughts? Comments?