Enough for Today
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Sometimes all it takes is a deep breath, a moment of silence, or a walk through a field to help us find calm in the midst of overwhelm.
Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
― Mary Oliver
Matthew 6.25-29
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
Food for Thought
As of this year, I’ve had the gift of knowing my mother-in-law for 25 years. Her name is Mary, though my children call her Gaga. She is warm, kind, and always smiling—and that’s not just the effects of dementia. That’s how I’ve always known her to be.
When Gaga was young, she spent her summers working on a farm. She often says it was during those long, quiet summers that she first found companionship in the natural world—outdoors among the trees and garden rows, befriending farm animals, and paying close attention to the world around her. As an adult, she married and raised four children. She stayed home with them while her husband worked—and she took on the mantle of excellent cook, skilled seamstress, and spiritual leader of the neighborhood families.
When we were teenagers, we always said that Gaga sat just a little closer to God than the rest of us. So if you wanted someone to pray for you—if you were sick, or had a bad dream, or thought you might fail your math test—you asked Gaga.
Her presence in my life, and in the life of my family, has been a deep and steady gift. I’ve learned more from her than I’ve ever confessed to her, but the two things I’ve long admired about Gaga are her ability to notice and appreciate beauty in the world around her, and her enduring gift for living without worry.
Unlike Gaga, I do not have my mother-in-law’s gift for not worrying.
I woke up this morning genuinely worried that I wouldn’t remember all the things I’m supposed to be worried about. Perhaps you did, too!
There is so much to worry about. The news cycle is relentless. Our own personal worries press in constantly—rising costs, caring for aging parents, raising children, the everyday stresses of work and life. We carry the worries of friends and family as if they were our own. And then there are the quieter worries, the ones that hum just below the surface, even when everything on the outside seems under control.
Worry becomes the soundtrack playing underneath everything. We scroll to stay informed, but really we’re bracing ourselves. We plan and prepare, not out of peace but out of fear. We keep ourselves busy so we don’t have to feel how vulnerable life really is.
Worry can become the thing we cling to in the name of control. A way to convince ourselves that we’re managing life, that we’re paying attention, and that we care.
But here’s the thing: worry doesn’t always make us more prepared. Sometimes it just makes us more tired.
And somewhere deep down, most of us know this. I think Jesus knew this.
We are not seeking to close our eyes to the world’s pain—we are longing for a way to live faithfully within it, without being swallowed whole.
And so Jesus offers us an invitation:
a different rhythm,
a steadier center of gravity,
a gentler way of being.
“Do not worry,” he says. “Look at the birds of the air. Consider the flowers of the field.”
Let creation be your teacher.
Let the smallest living things tell you the largest truths.
Watch the sparrow carried on the wind,
the lily clothed in a beauty it did not earn.
It is an invitation not to be lost to the worries of the world, but to let the beauty of this world draw us out of our panic and back into the presence of God. To give our attention to God in ways that still us and soften us.
It is not easy to convince ourselves that it’s okay to put down our worry—especially when that worry connects us to something or someone important, or when we feel helpless to do anything else.
But maybe, instead of clinging tighter, we could give ourselves over to paying more attention.
As life continues to swirl around you, do not worry about tomorrow.
Put your feet in the water.
Feel the warmth of the sun on your face.
Look at the birds.
Take a walk through the lilies.
Listen to the rain.
Trace the shape of a petal.
Let laughter surprise you.
Let silence comfort you.
Let beauty pull you back together again.
Let this work—
let this rest—
be enough for today.
Think of someone in your life—past or present—who has helped you notice and appreciate beauty (like your Gaga). Write them a short letter of thanks, even if they’re no longer here to read it.
Turn off your phone and screens for one hour. Use that time to rest, be outside, or do something creative. Pay attention to how your mind and spirit feel afterward.
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
God of the birds and the lilies,
Teach us to breathe deeply,
and to notice the gifts right in front of us,
Quiet our restless hearts,
and remind us that your love and care
is enough for today.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
When you feel worry creeping in, what are some things—small or large—that help you return to a place of calm or trust?
How do you balance staying informed about the world’s struggles with not being consumed by worry?
What is one “enough for today” practice you could commit to this week?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
What are some things that make you feel worried?
Jesus said to “look at the birds” and “see the flowers.” What do you think he wanted us to learn from them?
What is one small thing you could do today to help you feel peaceful inside?
Meet This WEek’s Writer...
Lin Story-Bunce is a North Carolina native and lovingly calls Greensboro, NC home. She earned a Masters of Divinity from Wake Forest University and has served a wonderful and thoughtful congregation at College Park Baptist Church since 2009, pastoring to families and their faith development. Most of all, Lin loves the moments she gets to connect with her family, snowboarding with her wife, and keeping up with their four kiddos and two energetic pups. Lin is a teacher, preacher, dreamer, and procrastinator who has a knack for trying to do way too many things in far too little time.
To hear more from the Lin throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!