Worry is an old man with bended head, carrying a load of feathers which he thinks are lead.
Interpretation
Worry often exaggerates minor problems into burdens that feel heavy and overwhelming.
This quote by Corrie Ten Boom illustrates how worry can distort our perception of reality. It describes worry as an old man who, despite carrying something light and insubstantial (feathers), believes it to be as heavy as lead. This reflects the idea that our worries often weigh us down unnecessarily and can make us feel burdened by issues that are not as serious as we perceive them to be.
In practice
During a motivational speech about managing anxiety, you could use this quote to highlight the importance of perspective in handling stress.
We never know how God will answer our prayers, but we can expect that He will get us involved in His plan for the answer. If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in Godβs work on behalf of the people for whom we pray.
And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things too. Don't run out ahead of Him.
If you want to hear God's voice clearly and you are uncertain, then remain in His presence until He changes this uncertainty. Often much can happen during this waiting for the Lord. Sometimes, He changes pride into humility; doubt into faith and peace; sometimes lust into purity. The Lord can and will do it.
And for all these people alike, the key to healing turned out to be the same. Each had a hurt he had to forgive.
Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.
God never measures the mind... He always put His tape measure in the HEART
The beginning is the promise of the end.
Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends.
So why do I write, torturing myself to put it down? Because in spite of myself I've learned some things. Without the possibility of action, all knowledge comes to one labeled "file and forget," and I can neither file nor forget. Nor will certain ideas forget me; they keep filing away at my lethargy, my complacency. Why should I be the one to dream this nightmare?
There's a certain grace in accepting what your life is and embracing all the good things that have been - but there's still an expectation of good things to come. Not necessarily what you expected.
Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life.
Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.