To wish for a life that’s "worry free" is in all likelihood to dream the impossible dream. Statistics show that between 20 and 30 percent of all Americans will live today under significant stress: 13 million of us will worry intensely for at least 90 minutes. It may be about our marriages, children, jobs, mortgages, health, grades, friends or a host of other issues. Whatever the source, worry’s an emotion with which all of us are familiar and which 27 percent of us experience virtually on a daily basis. (Statistics from American Demographics and MD Magazine.)

No. It’s not likely that our lives will ever become "worry free," but it is entirely possible for us to become increasingly less worried, particularly about peripheral issues, or “the small stuff.” It’s possible to become less dominated by our fears and more motivated by our faith. "Less worried" is a reasonable and achievable goal.

Jesus had a lot to say about worry and how to deal with the sort of anxiety that literally saps the joy out of life. Perhaps better known than any others of his words on the subject is today’s famous passage from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34), a passage that speaks directly to the 13 million of us who’ll waste 90 minutes today worrying (and usually worrying about things that will never happen).

Jesus opened his remarks by, in effect, asking those listening: "Why are you anxious ...?" Several key questions emerge from that one. Take a look at them with me.

Jesus phrased it this way: “. . . [C]an any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? What good does most of our worrying do? What does it ultimately accomplish? Psychologists tell us that roughly 90 percent of our fears are unfounded -- roughly 90 percent of the things that worry us never occur. We often and thus tend to fantasize ourselves into utter distress.

If we can fix something, then it might be worth worrying about, but if we can't do anything to change a situation, then we might just feel sad or regret it but not worry about it. Why worry about that over which we have no control? To be sure, we’ll find many elements of life to be disappointing. But unless we can change the situation somehow, all our worry is merely wasted energy, and may even make already bad matters even worse.

Here’s how Jesus, in effect, asked the questions: "Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"

After the Christmas 2004 tsunami devastated Indonesia and Bangladesh (when over 200,000 lives were lost), I heard a fellow on Boston St. remark on having a check bounce. He said, "I’m humiliated. This is the most upsetting thing that’s ever happened to me. I was awake almost all night worrying about it. It's terrible. I can't imagine anything worse!" His extreme concern over one bounced check would have been laughable had it not been framed within a greater picture -- the picture of human tragedy of almost indescribable proportion. With countless thousands dying in Asia, he lost sleep only because of the humiliation of a bounced check.

What we worry over says volumes about our priorities. Jesus knew that some of his listeners were inordinately anxious about personal pride and material possessions. He understood that self-centered people are terrible worriers, for they’re always afraid of what they stand to lose. He also comprehended the shallowness of people who’re oblivious to the needs of the world and focused only on their own wishes and wants.

Thomas Borkovec, a professor of Psychology at Penn State University, is (like many of us) an expert in the field of worry. The key difference is that Dr. Borkovec makes his living diagnosing what other folks are worried about, and he’s determined that fully 15 percent of us are "chronic worriers" (i.e., to some extent worrying virtually all the time). He’s also determined that the single most common source of worry is not the fear of war, financial disaster, holes in the ozone, AIDS, cancer, loss of a job, divorce or any of those other topics that we might place atop a traditional worry list. No. Dr. Borkovec claims that the single most frequent source of worry is other people's opinions of our lives. "If this happens, what will they think? What will people say? Will I be laughed at? Will I be excluded?"

Most of us, even clergy, have experienced moments when we knew what God wanted us to do but failed to do it because of what others might think. The sad truth, though, is that regardless of what we do or leave undone, we really can’t greatly alter other people's opinions of our lives. What matters most, of course, is not what others think when looking at us but rather what God thinks when looking in us. And yet that concern so frequently receives the least attention. We go on worrying about that which matters so little and ignoring that which matters most of all!

The Living Bible paraphrases the words of Jesus this way: "Don't be anxious about tomorrow. Live one day at a time. God will take care of the future." Wise words for those who have ears to hear. Several years ago, the country gospel singer Christy Lane scored an international hit with an old Kris Kristofferson tune entitled "One Day At A Time." Its popularity probably had little to do with the music, which was ordinary at best. Nor could you explain its appeal by deferring to Ms. Lane's voice. She does have a nice voice, but if it were the reason for the success of her song, then each of her recordings would have gone gold, if not platinum. The bottom line is this: It was the words of the song that appealed to millions the world around, the words which deep down we all know are true and up to which we wish we had the faith to live. The best we can reasonably do in this world is live one day at a time and leave the rest up to God.

"Why are you anxious ...?" Jesus asked, knowing that for too many it was because they either carried guilt from the past or borrowed trouble from the future. One writer has likened worry to paying interest on a debt before it’s due! All we’re called to do, and all we’re really capable of doing, is live the best we can today. "Don't be anxious about tomorrow. Live one day at a time. God will take care of the future."

"If God so clothes the grass of the fields and feeds the birds of the air," counseled Jesus, "will God not much more take care of you, . . . ?" William Barclay was probably correct when he suggested that "worry is essentially distrust of God," and that, my friends is idolatry - thinking we know better how to lead our lives than does God!

A French prince in the Middle Ages was asked if he were faithful to his wife. He answered: "Yes... frequently." The line is humorous but the point of the story is anything but. Sometimes in life, it’s all too difficult to find someone to trust, someone in whom to believe. Even spouses, parents and dearest of friends can let us down at times, but our Christian faith teaches that when all the others have come and gone, God remains constant -- "the same yesterday, today and forever." God is always in our corner, always as close as a prayer, always loving us whether or not we deserve it and always willing to carry the heavy end of each of our crosses if asked. When worries seem to have us hemmed in and overwhelmed, all the resources of eternity are at our disposal by simply whispering the name "God."

"Why are you anxious ...?" Jesus asked, and I suspect continues to ask, and he especially poses that question to the 13 million of us who’ll waste 90 minutes or more of our precious time worrying today -- 90 minutes that we could spend living instead.

"Why are you anxious ...?"

1. What good will it do?
2. What does it say about our priorities?
3. Whose opinion are we allowing to carry so much influence in our lives?
4. Why are we in such a hurry to deal with tomorrow when we haven't yet even           dealt with today? And
5. Where’s our faith?

These are good questions, tough questions. If we can find answers to them, we’ll have found significant antidotes to our worries.