“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34
Horace: The Odes
BookI: ChapterXI Carpe Diem
Since time is short: limit that far-reaching hope. The envious moment is flying now, while we’re speaking: Seize the day, place in the hours that come as little faith as you can.
Moment by moment, we have no idea what the next will bring. Who would have thought that a microscopic virus would have burglarized our freedoms, liberties, and way of life? So how does anyone live pragmatically yet seizing every breath of joy?
In the art of living, many have attempted to define it with isms: Empiricism, Positivism, Rationalism, Constructivism, Pragmatism, and others. There is no explaining life; it is a puzzle, a constant paradox—for most of us, we can only hope and have faith in brighter days to come—it is the Carpe Diem, you cannot change what awaits ahead, we can only change what we do in the moments of living. Jesus wanted us to know that: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Do we waste countless hours in worry? How many years of living have we lost from the effects of anxiety? Our infirmities can be avoided if we just considered the moment’s decisions, not in something that may never happen, and we can do nothing about it.
“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress, and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.”
– George F. Burns
Yesterday, while preparing our move and packing a POD container, a significant move tops the list of things that will cause anxiety; a curious neighbor stopped by always with unnecessary questions. She said she was moving to Hawaii and had just lost her husband to a heart attack. She asked, “why would you want to leave Hawaii?” I told her, “we want to travel North America photographing its beauty and meeting new people with stories to tell.” Her response is what spurred today’s topic—”My husband and I always wanted a travel adventure in a camper, we let it slip by us, there was always something to worry about, now he is gone.”
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its joy.”
– Leo F. Buscaglia
It is the worst of times for worry. Plenty of fear to go around the table: pandemic, politics, economy, even global warming—most we cannot control or prevent. I cannot imagine the hours wasted by humans worrying about nothing.
“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”
– Winston Churchill
So resolve to have faith and worry not. Capture every moment, carpe diem.
” People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.”
– George Bernard Shaw
“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.”
– Swedish Proverb
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its joy.”
– Leo F. Buscaglia