Transcript
Hello, and welcome to The Overflow Podcast. My name is Craig Booker. The title of this episode is Embracing Concern, Rejecting Worry.
The material in this episode is inspired by Winning the War on Worry by Louis Giglio.
Note: I will talk a lot about mental health, but please note this is not a substitute for therapy or mental health care. I am not a counselor or a physician. If you need help with mental health challenges, please find a qualified mental health professional.
The title of this episode is Embracing Concern, Rejecting Worry.
Embracing Concern Rejecting Worry
All right. So last episode, we talked about the Anatomy of Worry.
We were talking about the five major themes of worry. In this episode, we were talking about like how do we plan and and steward our time and resources without kind of falling into the trap of worry.
So in this section or this chapter, Louie opens by telling a story about his wife Shelly. And so he starts off telling this story about how Shelly, his wife, is what he calls an A to Z or a to zed person. While he is an A to B type personality.
And so what that means is she is really good with all of the details from the very beginning to the very end. You know, if they have a project that they’re working on in this ministry, you know, she’s really good at starting it, going through all the details and, and making sure everything’s accomplished from beginning to end.
Where he is the type that is gifted with being able to have a vision for something and maybe getting started or maybe getting a little past getting started, but then he is on to thinking about new visions and new things to accomplish.
And so he goes about telling about his wife. And how he loves his wife very dearly and appreciates all that she’s done for him and blessed him, but also how you know she is just a different personality type than him.
And then he kind of transitions to talking about how both personality types where the person that has you know, very high-level view that’s a big vision person and how a person that deals with all the details how they’re all susceptible to worry.
And so he starts out talking he says, “We learned in the previous chapter about the anatomy of worry and how the different themes of worry are connected to the same thread of control. And while we determine that our ability to control our lives is an illusion, we still need to address the question of how we can reject control and fear while still accounting for planning, preparation, and concern.”
He goes on to say, “God calls you to steward what you have in your hands. He gives you decision-making authority over what he has entrusted to you.”
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable about a master who goes away for an extended period of time, and the master entrusts a considerable amount of money to his three servants.
And most of you probably if you’re familiar with the story. It is, you know, talking about the talents, the story of the talents, and that’s what this story is, and so the first servant he gives five talents, and this is the equivalent of about a hundred years worth of wages.
So it’s a lot of money, so a lot of people when they see the number five as in five talents, they’re like that’s not very much, but it actually translates to a lot of money.
So the first servant he gave five talents and then the second servant he gives two which still a lot of money and then the third he gives one talent and so you know you have these three servants he talks about.
And he talks about what each of the servants did with the money and the return that they brought with that money.
And how the third servant, you know, knowing how demanding the master was he basically hid his money in the ground to ensure that he was able to return the same money to his master.
And the master was very disappointed in him, you know, basically, he should have put this money at least in the bank and earned some interest, but because of his fear, he didn’t.
And you know the others, the other two were able to bring a return for the money that the master gave them. And Louie goes on to say that the master gave talents the money according to their ability.
And so that’s a key point in this story, and we’ll get into that a little bit in the future. Then he goes on to talking about learning to plan without practicing worry.
Because I think that’s where a lot of us start out with is we have concerns about whatever it is that is on our mind.
And we think that it’s logical for us to be prepared to be good stewards of our resources, and so this is the starting point for a lot of us is a good place, and so he talks about defining some of these terms.
And he talks about planning, and he says planning is a constructive and tangible process where steps and actions are linked together for future outcomes.
Louie goes on to say while planning contingencies are always in place for unexpected events or delays but these contingency plans do not impede our ability to move towards to move towards the next step with confidence.
He says in other words planning is about leveraging gifts and resources around what is in your hand at this moment and moving it forward step by step.
He says, “If planning is a constructive and tangible process, worry is the projection of an endless stirring of what-if scenarios that absorbs all present effort and he says (what you could or absorb all present effort what you could be doing with what is currently in your hands). This string of what ifs often brings fear and paralysis that keeps us from our next steps.”
He goes on to say, “Planning focuses on the present and on what is in your hands while occasionally looking ahead to factoring in to factor in what is to come. Worry fixates on the future while occasionally circling back to he put in quotes work on what is currently in front of you.”
All right. So it says that it’s talking about the third servant. He says, “The third servant in the story of the talents got paralyzed by the what-ifs.”
He lists off lists off a bunch like
- What if I lose the money?
- What if I’m not capable?
- What if the other servants outearn me?
- What if I get sick or injured?
- What if something big happen happens to all the livestock in my town and I’m caught up in financial ruin?
- What if I fail?
- What if I lose my job?
- My family?
- My home?
So this third servant had all these questions running through his mind. All right.
So Louie says, “Scripture actually says he was ‘afraid’ according to Matthew 25:25. Isn’t it interesting that the result to getting caught in the web of what ifs is fear? Remember how I mentioned that worry is rooted in fear? In this parable, we see Jesus showing us that connection.”
So, it says, “While the first two servants were concerned and practiced good planning, this servant got stuck in a stream of worry. And once he got stuck into the stream, he eventually got stuck into the whirlpool of self-doubt.”
Boy, have you ever been there? I’ve been there! Like it’s kind of like you kind of go down a rabbit hole, and then you can’t get out.
“Like we’ve covered earlier, every so often when you’re building a plan, you need to look ahead. But you can’t live there. You can’t fixate so much on the ideas of tomorrow that you cease living in the realities of today.”
So, I want to add a little bit there. Because I think I’ve mentioned before that, you know, part of my struggle has been that I always try to be prepared for situations. That’s part of my personality. It’s not, you know, necessarily just part of anxiety. That’s how I am as I try to be prepared, but you know, when I’m anxious when I’m fearful, I tend to go a little bit overboard.
Especially when we’re, you know, maybe my family’s going on vacation. I feel like I have to over-prepare to compensate for a bunch of what-if scenarios.
And some of that is logical so some of that is good you want to be prepared for your vacation and not have to buy things when you’re there because it costs you more money if you can adequately pack them for your travel but what I would tend to do was spend more time trying to prepare than actually living and so that’s what this point is really I think hitting on here is when we fixate so much on the ideas of tomorrow that you cease living in the realities of today so there’s just this Tipping Point of of being adequately prepared versus going overboard where it’s kind of ruining and running your life and there’s he’s talking about this study he says according to psych Psychology today in a small study done at Penn State University scientists and doctors set out to expose a group of volunteers to as many possible stress points as was feasible in a a 10day window then they observed if they observed if those stress points or what ifs actually came to pass it says after 30 days of observation the team conducting the study notes that 91% of worries did not materialize says yes 91% big exclamation point question mark right he says what what’s most important is what is in our hands right now what we are tangibly carrying and I think that’s a good statement to help ground us when we’re struggling with fear anxiety being prepared uh is what we are carrying in our hands today like right now and he goes on to talk about practical steps to plan well it says how can you plan without tipping over into worry here are a few steps and he goes into these in the book he goes into quite a bit more detailed than this but I’m just going to give a high level view uh because I think these really capture the essence of it he says do what is in your hands to do today and he references Colossians 3:23 uh second he says don’t pick up any not yet realized challenges until necessary Matthew 6:34 third recognize that the master is returning and stay prepared Luke 124 it says 42-42 but I must have a typo there he goes on to say planning well and steering clear from your worry means that we embrace the mentality of I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it you know if you’re anything like me uh like when your mind is kind of racing and circling around trying to be prepared for something uh you’re thinking about all these different scenarios and this mentality of I’ll cross the bridge when I get there I think is meant to really free you up of you know there’s nothing substantial or beneficial for for me to do today about this issue that I’ll I’ll deal with it when it comes to me you know I’ll cross the bridge when it get when I get there he asked the question um what if what’s in my hand is too much for me to carry and I think this is a really legitimate concern because a lot of times we feel very overwhelmed I think there’s this large debate of well God will not give you more than you can you can bear and you know there’s scripture around that you know there’s also this idea of bringing God into our worry and that’s actually another chapter is bringing God into our worry I think it’s the next chapter so he goes into detail about and he says in Matthew 25:15 Jesus said to one he gave five two I guess that’s right to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one to each according to his own ability uh that was the nkjv so remember I said earlier that we’d come back to this uh this idea and earlier I said in the story that he gave speaking of the master he gave talents according to their ability here we’re circling back to that and he he’s quoting scripture in Matthew 25:15 about he gave according to their own ability he says God puts things into your hands according to your ability and his power to work in and through you if he if he’s entrusted it to you you can carry it now my addition to that is you may have to depend on him to carry it but you can still carry it.
It may be too much without you, your dependence on him, but that should tell us something is we’re not meant to carry something without him without depending on him.
Discussion
All right, so we have discussion.
What has God placed in your hands today? Take some time to thank God for what he has graciously graciously given to you.
Two, identify a time in your life when your planning turned into worry. Looking back, was there a tipping point you can recognize?
Now third. It says read James 4:13-17 how can you cultivate a spirit of ‘if it is the Lord’s will’ ?
If you were to stop overthinking your plans, what would that free you up to do more of today?
Closing
That’s all for this episode. Thank you for watching. If you liked the video, give us a thumbs up and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes.
Show Notes
Louie opens by telling a story about how his wife Shelly is an A-Z person while he is an A-B type personality.
He deeply loves and appreciates his wife.
But both personality types are susceptible to worry.
“We learned in the previous chapter about the anatomy of worry and how the different themes of worry are connected by the same thread: control. And while we determined that our ability to control our lives is an illusion, we still need to address the question of how we can reject control and fear while still accounting for planning, preparation, and concern.” [1]
“God calls you to steward what you have in your hands.
He gives you decision-making authority over what He has entrusted to you.” [1]
“Matthew 25 – Jesus tells the parable about a master who goes away for an extended period of time. This master entrusts a considerable amount of money to his three servants.” [1]
1st Servant – 5 talents or 100 years’ worth of wages.
2nd Servant – 2 talents
3rd Servant – 1 talent
“He gave talents according to their ability.” [1]
Learning to Plan Without Practicing Worry
“Planning: Planning is a constructive and tangible process where steps and actions are linked together for future outcomes.” [1]
“While planning, contingencies are always in place for unexpected events or delays. But these contingency plans do not impede our ability to move toward the next step with confidence.” [1]
“In other words, planning is about leveraging your gifts and resources around what is in your hand at this moment, and moving it forward, step by step.” [1]
“If planning is a constructive and tangible process, worry is the projection of an endless string of what-if scenarios that absorbs all present effort (what you could be doing with what is currently in your hands). This string of what ifs often brings fear and paralysis that keeps us from our next steps.” [1]
“Planning focuses on the present and on what is in your hands, while occasionally looking ahead to factor in what is to come. Worry fixates on the future, while occasionally circling back to “work” on what is currently in front of you.” [1]
“The third servant in the story of the talents got paralyzed by the what ifs.” [1]
What if I lose the money?
What if I’m not capable?
What if the other servants outearn me?
What if I get sick or injured?
What if something big happens to all the livestock in my town and I’m caught up in financial ruin?
What if I fail?
What if I lose my job?
My family?
My home?
“Scripture actually says he was “afraid” (Matthew 25:25).
Isn’t it interesting that the result of getting caught in the web of what ifs is fear? Remember how I mentioned that worry is rooted in fear? In this parable we see Jesus showing
us that connection.” [1]
“While the first two servants were concerned and practiced good planning, this servant got stuck in a stream of worry. And once he got into the stream, he eventually got stuck in the whirlpool of self-doubt.” [1]
“Like we covered earlier, every so often when you’re building a plan, you need to look ahead. But you can’t live there. You can’t fixate so much on the ideas of tomorrow that you cease living in the realities of today.” [1]
“According to Psychology Today, in a small study done at Penn State University, scientists and doctors set out to expose a group of volunteers to as many possible stress-points as was feasible in a ten-day window. Then they observed if those stress-points, or what ifs, actually came to pass.
After thirty days of observation, the team conducting the study noted that 91 percent of worries did not materialize. Yes, 91 percent!?” [1]
“…what’s most important is what is in our hands right now-what we are tangibly carrying.” [1]
Practical Steps To Plan Well [1]
“how can you plan without tipping over into worry?” [1]
Here are a few steps.
- Do what is in your hands to do today. Colossians 3:23
- Don’t pick up any not-yet-realized challenges until necessary. Matthew 6:34
- Recognize that the Master is returning and stay prepared. Luke 12:42-43
“Planning well and steering clear from worry means that we embrace the mentality of I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.” [1]
“What if what’s in my hands is too much for me to carry?” [1]
“In Matthew 25:15 Jesus said, “To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability” (NKJV).
“God puts things into your hands according to your ability and His power to work in and through you. If Hes entrusted it to you, you can carry it.” [1]
Discussion:1
- What has God placed in your hands today? Take some time to thank God for what He has graciously given to you.
- Identify a time in your life when your planning turned into worry. Looking back, was there a tipping point you can recognize now?
- Read James 4:13-17. How can you cultivate a spirit of “if it is the Lord’s will” (v. 15)?
- If you were to stop overthinking your plans, what would that free you up to do more of today?
Sources
[1] Giglio, L. (2022). Winning the War On Worry – Cultivate a Peaceful Heart and a Confident Mind. Thomas Nelson.
