Inspiration

Years ago, Victoria and I received a notice that the City was going to put in speed humps on the street in front of where we lived. We had two small children, and sometimes people would drive really fast, so we were all for it. We even signed a petition to help make it happen. A couple of other streets in the subdivision already had speed humps. I noticed that the city put up a sign to notify drivers. It was a big yellow permanent sign, like a Stop sign that said, "Speed Humps Up Ahead."

One day while I was out running, it dawned on me that they always put the sign in front of the second house in from the corner. Well, it just so happened that we lived in the second house from the corner on our street. Suddenly, I was no longer a fan of those speed humps. I did not want that big ugly sign in front of our house. I went to the other houses where the signs were and measured the distance from the corner. I got the exact length. Sure enough, that sign was going to be right by our driveway in the front of our house. For months, I worried about that sign. I thought about how bad it was going to be. Then I had an idea. I thought, "I'm going to get a big bush and plant it a few feet from where that sign is supposed to go so at least it will block it from our point of view." I got this big 6-7 foot tree and planted it out by the driveway. It looked like a random bush in the middle of nowhere. I know our neighbors thought, "Boy, those people are strange." But I knew it was going to help take care of this problem. Month after month went by, and my bush grew bigger and bigger. About two years later, the city finally came and put the speed humps on the street. But instead of installing the sign in front of my house like the others, they put it four houses down on the other side of the street. I spent two years trying to fix a problem that never even happened. Every time I drove up to my house I thought, "There's my worry tree." 

Are you trying to solve a problem that hasn't happened? "Well, Joel, what if I get laid off next year?" What if you don't, but you spend a whole year worrying about it. "Well, what I never get married?" What if you do? How much time are you wasting worrying? "What if this pain in my side is something serious?" Go to the doctor and get checked out, but don't spend three years worried and then find out it was nothing. Jesus put it this way: "Don't worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will have enough worries of its own." Instead, live in today, enjoy the blessings of today, love people today, and don't try to solve problems that haven't even happened yet!