Someone once said that: “You can tell the size of your God by looking at the size of your worry list. The longer your list, they say, the smaller your God.”

And, while God does not shrink, as it were, the more our trust is divided, the more our priorities change, so that God falls out of the list of priorities and becomes secondary, tertiary, or even last to that which has consumed us to the point of worry.

In fact, the word “Mammon,” which is typically, but oftentimes only associated with just money, actually comes from a Hebrew root that means, "to entrust," so that this mammon becomes that in which we place all of our trust, in other words, it becomes an idol that replaces God.

So that, as Jesus says, we literally find ourselves trying to serve two Masters, that which causes us this anxiety and worry and God, who wants to replace that if only we would, indeed, let go of that idol.

In fact, the author Sheldon Vanauken, in his book A Severe Mercy recounts how he and his wife bought a brand new sports car, shiny, sleek, fast and perfect in every way. However, when they got it home, they took an axe and put a few dents in the hood, for no other reason than to free themselves from the worry and anxiety that would have come from idolizing it.

And, while, indeed, it is an extreme example, it reminds us of the importance of always questioning where our priorities truly lie and, where God is found among those priorities, but, also, and more importantly, it forces us to let go of those things that might become a source of worry and shows us how to place our trust in something much more valuable, that is, the kingdom of God.

However, one of the most difficult things for us, if we are truly honest, is that act of trust, because, at heart, we want to be in charge, we want to be in control and when we trust, we aren’t the ones in control, someone else is making our decisions.

Yet, as it strange as it sounds, that might be the reason why Jesus points us to the birds, the flowers and the grass in the field, because they are doing what God has created them to do, in other words, they trust because they have no other choice, they don’t know, like us, what tomorrow will bring.

So, what Jesus is asking then, is that we trust in the same way, not blindly, as it were, but with our full consent, knowing that each moment of each day invites us to renew our trust in Him, to not worry about each and every moment, but to truly put it in His hands.

St. (Padre) Pio summarizes it perfectly, he says "Pray, hope, and don’t worry! Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” In other words, at the end of the day, our worrying will change nothing, but our trust will change everything, because, as Jesus Himself reminds we add absolutely nothing to our life-span by worrying and, as many doctors will say, actually shorten our life-span by doing so.

That is why the foundation of our trust is found in our prayer, because our prayer helps us to re-organize our priorities and to look at each of those things that cause us to worry as nothing in comparison to what it could be. In fact, there is a Swedish Proverb that says: “Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.”

In other words, if we were to truly examine that which causes us to worry, that which distracts us and can even cause us to turn away from God, we might see that we have, literally made, a mountain out of an anthill.

For, in the end, no one can truly know everything and no one can truly benefit from trying to predict the future, from dwelling and possibly regretting the past, or over-concerning ourselves with money, our job, our health, our safety and our stuff, those things we typically worry about.

Instead, we are being challenged today to trust that those things will be taken care of and to place all of our concern, all of our worries, on just one thing and one thing only, to, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, knowing, as difficult as it may be, that, as all things do, tomorrow will take care of itself.