No news is good news

"Be anxious for nothing...

let your prayer be known to God"

Philippians 4:6

I made a big mistake this morning.

I watched the news.

I rarely watch the news.  I turn on the TV, or check online when I get up, just to make sure there are no terrorists slamming airplanes into buildings or monuments of national importance.  And I make sure I'm up on political current events.  But other than that, I generally don't need ~ or want ~ to know much of what's going on. 

Not because it's not important.  And not because I want to live in a self-imposed, self-involved bubble.  But because of what I saw on the news today.

You see, there was big news today in the U.S.  Important political news.  With far-reaching implications that neither the politicians nor the media can fully predict.

But boy, did they try.

And that's what I wished I hadn't watched.  The news itself didn't worry or bother me.  Politicians will do what they will do, but I'm in God's hand, regardless.  But the analysts and pundits spoke of all the permutations of ripples from today's news, on health care, employment, the economy, the upcoming election, etc.  And by the time I'd listened for a while, I was pretty sure the sky was falling.

It wasn't.

But I was starting to get anxious just from the wondering.

Do you know the story of Chicken Little?   Chicken Little gets hit in the head with a falling acorn, and thinks the end of the world is imminent, so he hurries to inform the king, meeting up with myriad other animals on the way.  And every time he meets up with a new animal (like Ducky Lucky or Foxy Woxy), he repeats the phrase, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!  I must tell the king!"

And so I did.  I told the King.  And peace returned to my heart. 

The media has a tendency to exaggerate.  So do politicians, for that matter.  Both groups have an agenda.  But God's plan ~ is peace.

The sky is not falling.  But if you feel like it is, you must tell the King.

"What a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear.

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, 

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer."

{Joseph M. Scriven, 1855}