But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

- Matthew 6:25-34 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught His disciples, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 

  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"  My study Bible explains that Jesus is warning against anxiety here, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, it says, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  It further remarks that to be anxious over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  

 

 "So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  Because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained dependent upon earthly things, my study Bible says.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.  

 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount, my study Bible notes.  It says that Jesus calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven -- secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

 

So, what is God's righteousness?   The entire Sermon on the Mount is a way to express this, what life is like in living for the Kingdom.  We started with the Beatitudes, which taught us how to live and to view a blessed life.  From there we learned that believers are like salt and light, and carry these needful qualities with them in spiritual terms that help their societies and communities.  Deepening our understanding of the Law and its aims, Jesus teaches us about the reality of our interior lives, what it means to be part of this communion, and to take action to avoid sin at deeper levels within our own hearts.  In other words, true righteousness, and justice, even spiritual perfection.  Giving examples of this life, He teaches us how we should pray, and what to pray.  Yesterday, He taught us about the impossibility of serving two masters; we'll either be a slave to materialism or freed in true righteousness, embracing the life of the Kingdom (see above).  Moreover, in today's reading, Jesus elaborates on that freedom, asking us to become freed enough from attachment to our material desires so as to avoid excess anxiety, to stop making that the central focus of life and put God there instead -- "for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  In other words, we don't divide life into two realms, but we do put one first, the one governed by God, under whom are all things, for God creates and upholds all of reality.  When we lose the righteousness -- the kingdom of God and His righteousness -- then we lose the reason for being, the ways of relationship to the world and even to our material possessions, how to use them, what they are for, and how they are provided for us.  In our lives we may work hard, we may find very creative ways to live material lives, but ultimately our well-being depends upon placing our faith in something that colors everything and transcends it.  In recognizing dependence upon God, we not only find this righteousness and this Kingdom for ourselves, we also find a healthy gratitude, an understanding of life that places in our laps the means by which we find values and priorities for all that we do.  Gratitude is so often the alternative, and therapy, for the times one feels depression or meaninglessness, so let us shape our lives by this understanding of dependence upon God.  Even the sad parts of life, the things we experience as loss, pain, or suffering, gain meaning through God's righteousness, and relationship to Creator, including insights on how we go forward through difficulties.  So let us depend upon Christ and free ourselves from the anxieties that make us unbalanced and unreceptive to the righteousness and communion we can find.  Today's passage contains some of the most beautiful imagery found in all of Scripture.  It's not for nothing that Jesus reminds us of the stunning beauty of nature ("even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"), of the things created by God, the dependency even of the birds of the air for God's care ("Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?"), and most especially how futile our worry and anxiety are ("Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?").  In this context, faith becomes the way of life that is not simply preferable, but needful, and for all of us as human beings.  In the modern world, we feel that we are constantly bombarded with things to worry about; we are constantly fed information guaranteed to stoke anxiety.  Jesus acknowledges that we have needs, and we also have troubles, but He puts them into context for us.  Perhaps it was always like this, but nonetheless even in our present age it remains true, that "tomorrow will worry about its own things -- and sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Let us take Jesus at His word, for unlike some who preach all kinds of systems or philosophies or even faiths, He doesn't scare us with fear, but quite the opposite.  He teaches us that a focus on worry and anxiety avail us nothing; only faith changes everything and is the place we should take our stand and root ourselves in life.  Let us remember the beauty and wisdom He teaches to us. We are called to a particular Kingdom, and a particular righteousness.  The whole world may urgently chase the material life ("For after all these things the Gentiles seek"), but we are called to a different way.  In a world increasingly obsessed with security, let us consider how we may seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness.

 

 

 

 

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

- Matthew 6:25-34 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught:  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon." 

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"  My study Bible tells us that here Jesus is warning against anxiety, but not against thoughtful planning.  It notes that our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  Anxiety over earthly things, it says, can be a demonstration of a lack of faith in God's care.

"For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  Because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence upon earthly things, my study Bible says.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence. 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."   My study Bible says that the kingdom of God is the central theme of Jesus' teaching.  God's righteousness is the subject of the entire Sermon on the Mount.  These are what we are to seek!  Jesus calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven, taking our security in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

As my grandparents were survivors of genocide, it often gives me pause to think about this passage and the notes from my study Bible.  I grew up in a community of genocide survivors, all of whom had horrific stories of watching many family members murdered, of marches without food and water, seeing their entire communities destroyed.  They were simply lucky to have their own skins and to have survived.  It was an act of mass Christian persecution, its 1.5 million victims are now officially martyrs and saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church.  It always gives me pause to think about the readings we're given today.  It's important to add that Christ's teachings here are resoundingly powerful in my own life.  Learning to trust to God for what I need -- and to let go, in those times I have to, of what I thought I needed, but God seems to ask me to live without, has been an integral component of my own spiritual journey in life.  Without those times of letting go, and learning to plant my faith more deeply in Christ, I would not have learned what my faith is, nor learned about myself, nor about the realities of life separate from fantasies and popular ideas.  In short, every word I read here in today's reading I have experienced as true, and I am continuing to go down that path in my life.  As for the extreme hardships such as those my grandparents endured, I cannot comment on what is not my experience.  But it was their faith that kept them together as a community, shaped their identities, blessed them with an understanding of who they were and therefore how to go forward and rebuild their communities in the face of the worst crisis any community can face.  My grandparents (despite the horrific things they experienced when they were young) were cheerful, robust, hard-working, forward-looking people, taking joy in what life offered and especially in the unquestionable love with which they blessed me.  And I believe that this, too, was facilitated by their faith in Christ and the ancient faith which was part and parcel of their cultural inheritance.  Christian faith, above all, is an affirmation of life, for Resurrection is at the heart of it.  As He said, He is "the way, the truth, and the life."  "Mammon" did not have the last word, nor define who they were.  What Christ offers us today is the way to live with that always-present affirmation of life.  That is, in all things, we trust in God, and it is a process of learning to let go not just of excess anxiety -- but also of our own modern sense that so much depends upon what we look like, what house we have, what clothes we wear, and on and on and on.  Our faith, we always need to be reminded, does not consist solely of the things we have, but of what we know about ourselves and our relationship to God in terms of the intangible treasures that don't have a price.  What price is compassion in the midst of a genocide, for example?  My grandmother, along with tens of thousands of others, was an orphan, saved by American missionary doctors who trained her to be a nurse.  My other grandmother and my great grandmother were saved by a Turkish widow of a military officer who hid them in her home; my great grandmother had worked for her. In yesterday's reading, Jesus directed us to store treasures in heaven, and acts of compassion surely create those treasures -- just as we also remember that He said, "And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward" (see Matthew 10:40-42).  In today's reading, Christ fully teaches us what it means to serve one master or another, and what it means to serve the purely material instead of trusting to faith in God first.  Jesus says, "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  How often have those words been true, despite anxieties and worries?  In this, too, He teaches us what is essential and also what we need to let go. In the long run, and even through calamity, it is the intangible values of Christ that sustain a good life, the rock of faith which teaches us how to build our lives and gives us the strength to do so.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

- Matthew 6:25-34

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'"  What Jesus says here notably follows the admonition that one cannot serve God and mammon (in yesterday's reading, above).  He begins to speak about the material aspects of life, a focus on anxiety that is more than simply thoughtful planning.  Life is more than food and body more than clothing.   My study bible says that our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  Moreover, excessive anxiety over these things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  It's important to put this into the perspective of His preaching about what we worship, what we put first.  He is speaking of a kind of worry in which these are the things which concern and consume us most, more than the greater blessing of having God as our Father.

"For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  My study bible explains that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this total dependence, as we can trust that our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things.  Jesus is not negating the need; He is rather asking us to keep in mind the love of God for us, and God's awareness of all our needs.  It is this mindfulness on our part that creates a holistic balance in our lives.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  My study bible points out that the kingdom of God is the central theme of Jesus' teaching, and that God's righteousness is the true focus of the Sermon on the Mount.  His primary admonition is that we seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, and that all the things we need will be added to this.  Therefore, this is our primary focus as His followers.  My study bible says that, calling us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, Jesus directs us to look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.   That sufficient for the day is its own trouble is one of the wisest sayings that experience will teach us.  We do not need to drum up more troubles by needless anxiety!  Tomorrow will bring its own set of worries; there is no need to think up more.  Today -- and the things which present themselves immediately before us -- is enough for today.

In the central photo at the top of my blog, one will find one of the most beautiful (to my mind) flowering plants that grow quite commonly in the region where I live.  These are crocosmia lilies.  They grow so easily and abundantly that some consider them an invasive species.  Their beauty and color remind me of Christ's "glory" of the lilies of the field, as indeed these display in their ruddy gold brilliance.  Somehow by accident, my camera at the time of the photo captured the white of the sun's rays shining down on them and nurturing their beauty, highly appropriate for our passage today.  These rays are likened to God's mercy -- the energies of God that truly sustain life for us all, including the great beauty of the flowers that remind us of resurrection, especially the bulbs that rest in the ground to re-bloom each year.  The beauty of their colors, nurtured in the sunlight, give us delight through their glory.  And so it is that we are free to enjoy the beauty of the God-given world, as that very beauty also nourishes us and provides us with something we need.  When we observe the beauties of the created world, we may pause to consider how deep our need for beauty is, for beauty -- something hard to define as a material necessity for bodily survival -- is indeed something that nurtures the soul.  It is a reminder of God's love for us and God's care, for we may ask why it is that so much of created nature bursts with such beauty as if to give us an uplifting gift, a break from toil, a time of enjoyment or delight.  Jesus calls lilies such as these the "grass of the field," reminding us also of their simplicity == and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed such as these. Indeed it remains difficult to replicate through man-made objects the brilliance and dimensional richness of these colors in the sunlight.  In the most ancient burial sites discovered by archaeologists, we find evidence of such types of flowers buried with the ancient dead -- truly a teaching of our need for beauty and the reflective promise of resurrection of life our earliest ancestors intuitively grasped for.  Our own need for beauty teaches us about our dependence upon God for the finer things in life, the things that nourish the soul, give us the most heart, and the true faith in life's very goodness that sustains us and makes life more than toil.  Worry and anxiety, Jesus seems to teach us, take us away from that truth of life, and even from who we truly are as the children of a loving Father in heaven.  Excessive worry keeps us stuck in the "what ifs" == all those things that too often distract us from what is right in front of us and what is important, taking away our spirit for the real work we need, even the work of faith, of prayer, and of trust.   We need to remind ourselves that our health does depend on taking the time to appreciate the beauty we're given, telling ourselves that our focus is on what's needful, and not the fears that take us away from good health in every sense.  It's a common theme that so often we feel we can solve problems simply by worrying about them, when so often it is patience that is necessary to await a solution -- and time to contemplate the better and beautiful things that gives us a refreshed mind more able to cope with whatever the troubles of today really are.  Let us remember our need for beauty, and our Father in heaven who knows what all our needs are, and take heart in what is good, without giving in today to what rightfully belongs only to tomorrow.

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient to the day is its own trouble

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient to the day is its own trouble."

- Matthew 6:25-34

We are currently reading the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5 - 7 of Matthew's Gospel.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught:   "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"  Jesus is warning here against anxiety -- not against thoughtful planning, my study bible says.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, and indirectly on food, drink, and clothing, it notes.  Anxiety over worldly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.

"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  My study bible says that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  A reliance on God frees us from this dependence.  This is the second time that Jesus has reminded His hearers that "your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  In speaking about prayer, He contrasted pagan prayer (using "vain repetitions") with the type of prayer to the Father He was teaching, saying, "Therefore do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him" (see Tuesday's reading).

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient to the day is its own trouble."  The central theme of all of Jesus' teaching is the kingdom of God, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount.  Christ calls us to detach from our anxiety of earthly things so that we may look to heaven and dwell upon that faith for what we need for our lives, knowing that God is aware of our needs.  There is an important emphasis here on what is appropriate to the time, and where our focus is.   Life will always present challenges, but we needn't add to them with excess worry.

Jesus gives us an important emphasis to focus on our relationship with God.  This does several things.  He speaks of detachment from material needs.  This is not to say that we don't understand what we need, or that we don't need material things.  On the contrary, He reassures us for the second time that "your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  He's telling us that our primary focus should be on that particular relationship, for our dependency upon God for life is our true dependency.  He asks us to look around at the beauty of the world.  Even the wildflowers have incredible beauty.  We can look to the birds and wonder at their care.  Jesus doesn't say so, but to look around ourselves at the marvel of nature and creation is to reckon with gratitude for what is truly present to us and what it tells us about our place in the cosmos.  God cares for the flowers of the field, for the smallest animals -- and how much value do we suppose God places on us?  The Incarnation itself, the Father sending His Son to be one of us and to fully and completely take on our human life in this world -- what does that really say to us about our worth in the eyes of God?  As Christians, we place our faith, hope, attention, and focus first on God's righteousness.  That is, on living that righteousness ourselves.  This puts everything else on a second rung, and it puts anxiety also in its proper place.  It's important to note as well that this particular focus Jesus teaches us includes mindfulness, a focus on the here and now.  It is a way of staying rooted within our own reality, eyes wide open to what actually is with us today.  Anxiety and worry about the future take us away from a focus on our present reality, and drives us in a kind of frenzy which is based purely on destructive speculation, a fantasy that is wholly negative.  In addition, Jesus teaches us that this sort of entanglement based on excessive attachment can cause us even more troubles than are necessary for us to deal with, adding to our burdens and challenges.  He's quite right when He tells us, "Sufficient to the day is its own trouble."  We don't need to make more for ourselves, our challenges are enough.  In a sense, He's also telling us that the crosses we need take up are measured for us; we should not add to our own burdens ourselves through excess worry and fear for the future.  It should be noted that the word for trouble is the same word as "evil."   Enough is enough.  Let us follow His loving advice!