I HEAR things (no, not dead people). You might call it a (misguided) sixth sense, or just a delusion.
I wouldn't be surprised if all mums have it.
There you are in the shower, water pouring down, fan humming, door closed, and you swear you can hear the baby crying.
You turn off the taps, switch off the fan, swing open the door and hang your ear out into the hall and ...
Silence (chirp-chirp).
You're hanging washing on the line, a lawnmower chugging next door, traffic zipping by, a siren whirring somewhere and you swear you can hear the baby crying. You dash indoors
and tiptoe to his door and ...
Silence.
A mum never completely switches off.
When she's out for the night _ even if bub is with the most reliable babysitter _ she's checking her phone every few minutes.
She sleeps with one eye open, ears pricked, and executes chores, errands, phone calls on the premise that she can drop everything if need be and tend to li'l sunshine.
Oh, it's a cruel game.
But it's also one of those God-given instincts that help us care for our children better. Many a child has been saved thanks to their mother's instinct.
Another trait inherent in us is worry.
This one can't be explained in such fond terms.
Worry is a symptom of ailing faith.
Worry says, ``I'm not sure God is big enough to look after this thing'' (sure, he delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, but can he really help with this uni assignment?).
I like to think of the Bible as a book of precedents. The people in its pages grappled with issues not unlike those we face today, and God helped them as he continues to do today.
If Moses believed, so can I. If Joseph met each obstacle as an opportunity, so can I. If Esther lived with the threat of persecution, so can I.
God was with them, and God is with us.
In Matthew 6:34, Jesus said, ``Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.''
Corrie Ten Boom's paraphrase goes like this: ``Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength''.
It's common sense (if only common sense were more common) because ``Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?'' (Luke 12:25).
Worry, like pride, has two breeds.
There's the kind that is useful, and the kind that only causes pain _ to self and others.
Worry check: if it causes you to think clearly before deciding on a course of action, then fine. But, when worry stews in your mind, eroding composure and seeping throughout your
life like a toxin, it's time to do something about it.
And while we can't always get rid of the source, the problem, we can always allay the worry bug.
God says hand 'em over. He'll shoulder those tiresome burdens for you.
The result: freedom.
Blessed freedom.
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