That is my mum’s philosophy and it is something she is repeating even as she sits beside her husband of 54 years while he is in a coma. It’s one thing to say it if you can’t find your keys or find a parking space but it’s another thing entirely when your husband might die. But she means it. She’s not worrying. It won’t help. It won’t help her and it certainly won’t help him. Not that he’d know if she was worrying anyway.

I don’t know if Jesus was this blunt, he may have been, but it certainly reminded me of his question in Matthew 6v27, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

Worry and anxiety will in fact shorten not lengthen your days. And just as it will not add to your own life by worrying, it will certainly not add to anyone else’s life. So my mum seems to have internalized this bit of Jesus’ teaching pretty well. 

My mum is not a doctor, I am not a doctor & my sister is not a doctor. When it comes to the medical care my father is receiving, we have little choice but to in the end trust them. We have to trust that they will act in his best interests. We have to trust that they will not be negligent but use all their skill. We are forced into a position of trust whether we like it or not. They know what my Dad needs to keep him alive. We do not. And if we are trusting then why should we worry?

This, it seems to me, is the heart of what Jesus is getting at. If, “our heavenly father knows that you need them” then we trust Him that He is competent not negligent, acting in our best interests and so we have a choice: trust or worry. 

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

He was not wrong.

The last few days have been crystal clear about that. I think they always are when life and death stand so close together. It’s true for all of us that today might be our last, but the odds, since Wednesday, that each day might be my dad’s last have been significantly higher. What is the point of worrying about tomorrow when he might die today? What is the point of worrying about future treatments & challenges if he won’t see out the day? Really, none at all.

So if there is no point in worrying about tomorrow, is there any in worrying about today? No, not really. Our task is to do what we can, to take each moment & respond to it with faith, love and kindness.

For some time now, I’ve been praying almost daily for an increase in the fruits of the Spirit in my life. So that I can in whatever faces me in the next moment, respond to it with that kind of attitude. And right now, as we watch my dad sleep in the space between life and death, not knowing which way he will turn, then our task is to trust our heavenly father, be kind to each other and not worry. He knows.