60 Seconds

This past September I went on a retreat with Chi Alpha, and during one of the services the speaker shared a story that has stuck with me and challenged me over and over.

At one point during his ministry, Bill was a youth minister at a church. During his time at that church, he had a family leave the church in anger and resentment. And after they left, he began to worry about them, and how the kids would respond to their parents' bitterness, and how it would affect the kids in his youth group, and the rest of the church. Finally, he went to his senior pastor and shared his fears and concerns. The senior pastor proceeded to pull out a 60-second egg timer and place it on his desk. Needless to say, Bill was a bit confused as to the purpose of a timer. The senior pastor looked at him and said, "Alright Bill, I'm going to set this timer, and for the next 60 seconds we're going to worry really hard about the family." Bill's confusion didn't diminish any more as the pastor set the timer and watched it count down. When the timer went off, the senior pastor said "Now we're done worrying about them. Let it go." Bill argued a bit as he tried to figure this out, but the pastor just said "No, you've given your time and energy worrying, now you let it go. Your 60 seconds are up."

Bill went on to talk about surrendering everything to the Lord, and not being weighed down with fear or concern, but that simple statement has been forever seared into my soul. Your 60 seconds are up. In fact, I have it written on my dry-erase board in my room as a reminder. Every time I start to worry about something or let fear or doubt or concern take over my life, I see that statement, and I think "Okay, my time for worrying about this is up." And then I let it go. It's so simple, but it's been so powerful. For whatever reason, it has struck a chord within me and when I see that statement it's easy to let the weight be lifted off my shoulders.

So the next time you're overwhelmed or feeling fearful of something, take 60 seconds to worry about it if you need to, and then let it go. Jesus knows what He's doing with your life, and He will take care of you.

Your 60 seconds are up.