Episode Transcript  

One

Mr. Worry

There’s an old children’s book by Roger Hargreaves called Mr. Worry. As you might expect, it’s about a little man who is constantly worrying about all kinds of things. Then he runs into a kindly old wizard. The wizard tells Mr. Worry to make a list of all the things he’s worried about and the Wizard will use his magic to make sure none of those things ever happens. Maybe you can guess how the story ends? It ends with Mr. Worry worrying himself sick because he doesn’t have anything to be worried about. 

Now that’s just a silly little kids’ book, but actually, don’t you know people like that? People who seem like they want to worry about something, like they actually enjoy it? And maybe, without realizing it, we are that kind of person. So why do we enjoy worrying?

Two

Disordered Desire

In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus tells us three times, “Do not worry.” If Jesus says not to do something, and then we do it, well, that’s all we mean by sin. If God says not to worry, and then we do anyway, then we’re breaking His instructions. And here’s the interesting thing: every sin is based on some kind of disordered desire. Every temptation is a temptation precisely because there’s something appealing about it.

So again, we need to ask ourselves if the temptation to worry really is a temptation that Christians are supposed to resist, then why is it attractive? What’s the disordered pleasure we get when we worry?

Three

Thriving on Crisis

The truth is that an awful lot of us thrive on crisis. Many people move from one drama to another; everything is always super-urgent, super-catastrophic. And because life is lived as a chain of disasters, they never settle into the quiet groove of virtuous living. They never learn the steady rhythm of the daily grind, which is the universal prerequisite to a good life. And that’s precisely the point. A catastrophe is always an excuse to abandon your regular, boring, difficult duties, the work of becoming holy. No one expects you to do laundry during an earthquake. No one expects you to mow the lawn, make your bed, or sit for half an hour of quiet meditation if there’s a mob rioting outside your door.

And we’ve added our own excuses: the “urgent” email, the latest controversy in the news, the breaking headline on social media. These become our daily manufactured earthquakes. But here’s the reality. There aren’t that many real catastrophes. Earthquakes and riots are rare. Even the “breaking news” usually has no direct bearing on our duties today. And yet, because we don’t want to face the ordinary work of holiness, like daily meditation and a resolution or an examination of conscience, we invent crises to justify neglecting it.

We can do this in two ways: by making a mountain out of a molehill in the present, or by worrying about some possible disaster in the future. And that’s the hidden pleasure of anxiety. By living in crisis mode over a threat that isn’t real, we avoid the steady, demanding work of growing in virtue. Worry is an avoidance technique, and a subtle one, because it looks responsible. But it is often nothing more than an excuse not to pray, not to work, not to persevere.

The invitation, then, is clear. True holiness is not built in emergencies but in ordinary faithfulness. God is found in the rhythm of daily prayer, the humble duties of family life, the perseverance in work, the hidden acts of patience and charity. The saints show us that the real adventure is not the invented crisis but the steady surrender to God in all the little things.

Four

Fighting against anxiety through Behavior

So now that we’ve figured out why we like to worry, it’s time to figure out how to attack that disordered pleasure. There are two ways to attack it, namely, through behavior and through imagination. The first way is through behavior, that is, through your speech and your deeds. 

If you struggle with anxiety and worry, the first step is simple: stop feeding it with your words. If someone asks, “How are you?” don’t say, “I’m so busy,” and then catalog all the crises in life, which is really an ingenious way to justify that we are avoiding prayer, exercise, time with a spouse, or elderly parent. It’s all a way of avoiding the daily duties of holiness. 

Instead, get your life in order and do the work of holiness, and then when people ask, “How are you?” you can calmly say, “My life is good.” 

Remember this: worry is avoidance. It’s designed to distract you from what to do now. Don’t give in. Instead, throw yourself into a steady rhythm, prayer, work, service, and even healthy recreation. Once worry sees it can’t derail you from your duties, it loses its power. It simply fades away.

Five

Fighting against Anxiety through Imagination

Finally, fight against anxiety through your imagination. Imagine how awful it would be if you could have lived a life getting stuff done and enjoying the fruit of your labor, and instead you just wasted everything by worrying. Think of the peace, contentment, and rest that comes from total trust in God. And reflect on how ridiculous it is to worry when God has personally vouched for the fact that He’s arranged things so that you don’t have to worry.

He’s like the wizard in the Mr. Worry book, who has told us that he’s taken care of everything, so we shouldn’t worry. That wizard was probably displeased when Mr. Worry told him he was still worried about not having anything to worry about. And God will be displeased with us, if we tell Him we are still wasting our time and energy in worry, just as a way of avoiding the more important work God Himself has given us to do.

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