Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. (Matthew 6)
I must confess, I have spent an inordinate amount of time worrying this week. Like some of you, I had many cares that weighed my spirit down – deadlines at work, a children’s choir to direct and organize travel for, an out-of-control lawn and garden to tame, the spiritual and material burdens of friends, feast Masses to prepare for and attend, relatives visiting from far away, and my own tiredness and family illness to contend with. How could I help but worry?
Leaning on God’s promises
Yet, in today’s reading, our Lord Jesus calls us to rest in His promise that He will provide for our food, our clothing and our future needs, so that we do not get enmeshed in anxiety about cooking, shopping and stockpiling our resources.
Learn from nature
Jesus directs us to look at and learn from the birds of the air whom He feeds, and the lilies of the field whom He clothes. Our Lord’s provision is evident in the mysteries of nature, and we are reminded to focus our eyes on the daily miracles in the natural world.
One such miracle I unexpectedly learnt about this week relates to the prophetic messianic Psalm 22, where in verse 6, the psalmist says, “I am a worm and not a man.”
Let’s dig a little deeper…
The scarlet worm
King David, when writing this messianic psalm a thousand years before Christ, did not use the common word “rimmah” for worm in Hebrew, but tola – referring to a specific worm species known as the “crimson worm” or “scarlet worm”. The carcasses and eggs of the crimson worm – containing carminic acid – were used to dye the Jewish temple curtains scarlet.
We feed on Christ
There are fascinating parallels between Christ’s crucifixion and the life-cycle of the crimson worm. When it is time, the female crimson worm climbs a tree, attaches herself to the wood, lays her eggs and protects them with her body. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the living body of their mother for three days. Before she dies, she secretes a crimson dye, covering her young, leaving them crimson for life, and staining the wood of the tree. At the end of the fourth day, her body loses its crimson pigment and turns into a snow-white waxy substance.
Christ pours Himself out to make us rich
On the cross, Jesus became “a worm,” the poorest creature of all – not only emptying Himself of divinity but considered even less than human. He was defenseless, lowly, ostracized, rejected, despised, condemned, abandoned, spat upon, beaten and stripped – all this so that we, His children, might be made rich – redeemed, cleansed, adopted, anointed, and immortal. (2 Cor 8:9). Protected by His almighty and self-sacrificial love, we really need fear nothing.
Remind yourself of His care for you
Mysteries of nature such as the above are powerful reminders to us of the amazing ways God provides for His creatures and His people.
Spending time in nature, practicing constant praise and thanksgiving, reflecting on God’s Word and His past deliverance, all offer us powerful pathways to detach ourselves from worry and rest in God’s generous provision.
Join me in asking the Father to help us discover His marvelous deeds so that we may daily live in overflowing thankfulness and joy despite trials.
