“The mass of men worry themselves into nameless graves while here and there a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

The entire universe revolves around me. You need to know
that. I am the most important being to ever draw a breath of life. You, yes
YOU, only exist as a bit player in my autobiography. I’m that important. I’m
that significant. I’m grateful you get to occupy the same continent as I do.

 

 

I hope you recognize snark when you read it.

 

 

Because … I swear … this is the attitude some people exude.
Narcissism abounds. Self-centeredness is the name of the game. And it may just
be that these tendencies manifest themselves in simple, pure, unadulterated
worry.

 

 

Dear reader, I’m sure this isn’t true of you, any more than
it’s true of me.

 

 

And yet … and yet …

 

 

What is worry, anyway? Isn’t it a form of self-centeredness?
Do we worry because of some real or imagined crisis looming? Do we fret if, God
forbid, things don’t go as we like?

 

 

Let me hastily say that I am making a distinction between
legitimate concern and irrational worry. If your child goes missing, best you’d
worry! That sort of worry should lead to action, and not some idle brooding.

 

 

Emerson, the great, transcendentalist, nailed this one. The dude was brilliant. I realize that he was most likely a non-believer, but truth is truth, no matter where you find it.

 

 

That phrase – “… men worry themselves into nameless graves”
– is a haunting one. The implication is that most people generate fear out of
nothingness, or at best out of a perception that “something bad” may happen. It
generally doesn’t. The reason I’m calling out worry as a form of
self-centeredness is because worry is a solitary task. It implies that the
worrier is carrying some burden alone. It smacks of unholy doubt, doubt that
God, Who is sovereign above all things, has been given an issue too big for
Him, and you’re responsible for taking up the slack. Just in case God fumbles
the ball, you’re close by to pick it up and run. In other words – it’s all
about you, and not about anyone else. Even Him. It’s a subtle form of
disbelief.

 

 

Before you beat yourself up (or wish that you could beat me
up), realize that worry does indeed send one just that much closer to a
nameless grave. I mean, it’s self-evident that worry simply isn’t healthy.
Worse, it doesn’t help. But some folks embrace it, marinate in it, and feel
good because they feel bad. Worry is evidence that they “care,” by golly. And
it kills. It’s slow-motion suicide.

 

 

So Emerson suggests a cure in the same breath: “… while here
and there a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.”

 

 

That’s lovely. I’m glad Emerson was here to walk amongst us
mortals for a while and give us such wisdom. The call here is for us to be
simply unselfish, to shift our focus from ourselves, how we feel, and what we
fret over … and release it. (Yeah, I know. One does not simply “let it go.”)
But to forget oneself, to lose ourselves in a cause bigger than ourselves, to
cast our lives into the arms of One Who alone can give us comfort – man alive.
Isn’t that something worth aspiring toward?

 

 

This is what banishes worry. If you’re a believer, you have
to accept that God is bigger than you, that He has a supernatural vantage point
of whatever the situation is that you don’t have, and that He isn’t bound by
time and space. He sees what instigated your worry, what you are doing in the
midst of it, and what the resolution will be – all at the same time. (Good luck
wrapping your head around that!) It is forgetting yourself, looking to Him, and
releasing your concern like a helium balloon.

 

 

Re-read that quote. It’s magnificent. And take comfort in
the ancient script found in Philippians 4:6-7 – which, according to data
released by Amazon is the most highlighted passage in Kindle ebooks, and has
comforted untold millions: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to
God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

 

 

That’s it, right there.